Agents of SHIELD- OPERATION EXILES: Vol 3 The Worlds Tour
by Kamenrangerxvi01
Summary: Agent Scott Riley never wanted to be a big name in SHIELD. But that's beginning to change. He's found both purpose and love ever since a strange machine sent himself and several SHIELD agents, along with some new friends tripping across the multiverse on a mission that could change the fates of countless worlds. (Part 3 of the SHIELD Relaunch Verse)
1. First Stop: Freefall

Chapter 36

Zephyr Zero was once again high in the sky, this time both out of control and under attack.

"I thought we were cloaked" Daisy asked as the missile lock tone continued

"We are, the thing probably locked onto our heat signature from the repulsors." Scott told her.

"Everyone hang on!" He yelled as he shut them off, allowing the plane to drop.

"Here we go again." Fitz said as they began to free fall.

Scott dropped the nose and put them into a dive.

"There you are." He said, at the missile streaking towards them. "Come to papa."

He reached to his side and pushed a button, which fired off a cluster of flares. The missile changed course and flew through the fireworks. Scott pressed a second button, which opened the turret bays on the wingtips and destroyed the missile with the plane's weapons.

"Let's get out of here before they try again."

"What's that?" Daisy asked as an object zoomed past them

"Was that a flying person out the window?" They heard Barry yell.

"Looked like it." Scott said "Actually kind of looked like my mom and dad's friend, 'Aunt' Carol…"

A pair of fighter jets zoomed past in pursuit of the flying figure.

"I think this just got a lot more complicated."

"So this is what we've got so far." Daisy said to the rest. Scott had found a clearing in a deep forest to set the plane down in and they'd gotten to work trying to track down the alternate Bobbi and her forces that had kidnapped Iris West-Allen and the Melinda May from Jas and Skye/Seven's world.

"About twenty-five years ago, a being of immense power came to this world and began an uprising of its gifted community."

"Hive?" Jemma asked

"We wish, that would be easier." Scott said, "Our super powered Hitler is… Hyperion."

"From the comic books?" Fitz asked "The Squadron Supreme? The movie that made like a billion dollars two years ago?"

"Who's Hyperion?" Barry asked

"By the looks of him, obviously some counterpart of your friend Kara's cousin" Thawne said.

"Was he a baby sent to Earth from a dying planet?"

Barry and Thawne both nodded

"Then yes." Scott continued "He was raised in captivity by the US government, but overtime he began to resent it. I think we all know where this is going."

Scott pressed a button and a holographic map globe appeared above the coffee table.

"At present, the forces of the 'Union of Superiority' control about 70% of this Earth's landmasses. The United States' northeast along with Maritime Canada, Australia and, of all things, North Korea are the primary holdouts. Our targets are noted as being residents of Louisiana, so we're going to start our search there. Jas, Jemma and Fitz, since you guys don't have any abilities; you're going to have to stay with the plane. Non-powered are executed immediately upon capture."

Daisy walked over to her duplicate, Agent Seven

"We're going to give you a fair shot and entrust you with keeping them safe. Don't make us regret that decision."

"I won't" the other girl said.

"Barry, Mr. Thawne…"

"Professor Thawne" he said, correcting Scott

"Whatever… just scope our surroundings out so we can get a lay of the land and plan our next move."

"fine…" The older man huffed. He took one step towards the door and then stopped.

"I can't use my speed…" He said, shocked. He turned towards Barry "I knew you coming along was wrong. We've barely been here an hour and you're already screwed something up."

"I didn't do anything!" Barry protested

"Of course not, but to quote 'You're not thinking 4th dimensionally'. Just because you haven't screwed up doesn't mean you're not going to."

"Shut up, the both of you!" Daisy yelled.

"Well excuse me for being right!" Thawne said, slamming his hand on the table and smashing a plastic cup. The contents hit Barry's sleeve.

"Why didn't you move?" Thawne asked, "Taking pity on me again?"

"No… I tried to move" Barry said "I can't use my speed ether…. What if there's no Speed Force here at all?"

"I hadn't considered that" Thawne admitted

"That might be why we've only ever encountered the same earths" Barry continued "We can't go where there's no Speed Force, not under our own power."

"I guess you two will have to stay here for now." Scott said "Barry, if Iris and May were brought here, we'll come get you.


	2. First Stop: Down in the Bayou

Chapter 37

A few hours later:

"Excuse me, sheriff, but I was wondering if you could be so kind as to help me." Daisy said in a fake southern accent. She and Scott had traveled to the nearest town to where they'd landed to try to dig up more information on their targets.

"Well of course miss" The man said sweetly to her "What can I do for you."

"Well, you see, I'm looking for four men."

"We're the Police, not a dating service miss." The deputy across the room said.

"We're asset recovery agents." Scott said, coming in behind her and not even bothering with an accent "Our employers have evidence that these four men stole something from them. They would very much like it back and to keep this quiet. We would like all the details you have on these four gentlemen, along with any known associates and where they like to hang out."

"I would assume you both realize I'm not allowed to access those records for you without a court order. I also need your names and classes."

"Oh, right, how silly of me." Scott said

He pulled his ICER out, quickly shooting the deputy.

"_What the bloody fucking hell are you doing?_" Fitz hissed in his ear, watching from the sunglass camera.

"These guns are little miracles our employers cooked up" Scott said to the sheriff, ignoring Fitz "They can strip a person of their abilities."

"You can make a Sup into a Sap…?" The man asked, terrified

"Yes, yes we can" Daisy said, dropping the accent and pulling her own out "give us the information we want, or you're going to be next."

"_Seriously?_" they heard Fitz screaming.

"No. Ok, right. What where their names and classes?"

"Andy, Bobby, Paul…"

"And Richie?" the sheriff asked

"You know them?"

"They're the Drake cousins. Why didn't you say so before?" he said "They've got a rap sheet two miles long. They are the biggest troublemakers in the state. They say you're not really a cop in these parts until you arrest them at least once. I think the only thing no one's gotten around to arresting them for is jaywalking…"

The officer printed out all the information he had on the four.

"Pleasure doing business with you." Scott said.

"We'll be on our way now." Daisy continued

"Oh, and by the way, this is just a stun gun." Scott said as he shot him.

"Did you really need to do that?" Daisy asked as they got back in the car, cloak on and hidden in back alley.

"Well, he's less likely to follow us now." He said, "What have we got on targets?"

"Andrew Drake: age 47. Robert Drake, age 39, his younger brother Paul aged 37 and Richard Peters, age 40." She started reading "They seem to keep to themselves; most known associates are immediate family. Their addresses are all listed as state highway numbers."

"Probably all out in the bayou two."

"Know priors include; Sap hunting out of season, Sap hunting without a license, Burglary, Grand larceny, grand thief auto, trespassing on private land, trespassing on government land, resisting arrest and littering."

"Can't believe there is a season for hunting people."

The drove out of the town and into the back country twords the nearest desitantion on their list. Scott turned the cloak off to save power.

"So this world is run by a person out of a comic book…" Daisy mused

"Well," Scott answered "Like I told Skye, if you can think of it, it can happen."

"I miss her already." Daisy said "She always seemed perky and happy. Seven is just so depressing to be around."

"Tell me about it." He said. "This would seem to be the place."

The found a dirt track leading off the main road.

"Well, time to test the suspension…" Scott said as he turned down it.

About a mile up the trail, they found a small cabin/ trailer sort of house next to a lake.

"Doesn't look like they're here." Daisy said before yelling hello.

Scott walked over and knocked on the door.

"Guess no one is home"

"Can I help ya'll?" A voice asked

Scott turned and jumped at the sight of a little old lady standing next to him were no one was before.

"Sorry" she said "Still getting used to stopping with these 'no fall socks' on."

"Yes… hi there." Scott said, regaining his composure. "We're looking for the Drakes."

"I'm Patty Drake, you must be looking for my Grandsons." She said "You're not with the police, are you?"

"No."

"Good, cause you gotta tell me if you are."

"That's an urban legend." Scott said

"We're Asset Recovery agents" Daisy said, sticking to their cover story "Our employers have tracked some stolen property of theirs to your grandsons. They would very much like it back and are willing to pay handsomely for its safe return, no questions asked."

"How handsomely are we talking?"

"Depends on whether it's still intact and they haven't tampered with it."

"What sort of property are we talking about?"

"An old looking computer. Built into a desk."

"Well, I'm happy to say my boys stole no such thing, that blond hussy gave it to them."

"Did she look like this?" Scott asked, showing her a picture of Agent Morse.

"That's her. She came to visit about a week ago and gave them that… thing. Told them she wanted to hire them for a job."

"Did she go into detail?" Daisy asked.

"No, not in front of me at least."

"Do you have any way of contacting them?"

"I've never had a telephone and they went with her almost immediately. I haven't seen them since."

"Well, thank you ma'am." Scott said as he and Daisy returned to the car.

The old woman smiled and waved as the pair drove off. She then reached into her housecoat pocket and pulled out a small ball.

"You said to let you know if anyone came looking for you? Well, I just had some visitors…"


	3. First Stop: Smoky and the SHIELD Agents

Chapter 38

"Time check?" Scott asked.

"According to Fitz, we need another" Daisy said while checking the time "seven hours before the plane can jump again."

"So do we take the risk of being caught and try snooping around another address or do we head back and wait it out with the others?"

"They could still be here." Daisy said " I say we look."

"Okay then…" He started before slamming on the breaks.

"You know, this would be a lot easier with the Zephyr." Scott said, standing where a road should have been.

"I guess we'll just have to go the long way." He continued, as they got back in.

"I feel like we passed that stump going the other way…" Daisy pointed out.

"We're in a swamp, there's a lot of stumps." He said.

"No, I mean it looked like we passed it on the same side of the car… THERE IT IS AGAIN!"

Scott stopped again and the pair got out.

"I saw THIS stump twice now."

"How can we be going in circles on a straight road… unless…" He pulled out his phone and commanded the car to drive forward. It wouldn't budge.

"Someone's trapped us here."

"Very observant of you." a familiar voice said.

Hydra Bobbi was sitting nearby.

"I wouldn't have expected any less from you SHIELD types." She said

The pair drew their guns.

"Where's May and Iris!" Daisy demanded.

"OK… first of all, this is a hologram. You'd actually think I'd come to a place like this in person? It's disgusting. As for the two lovelies, they're fine. They're safe. It's your own safety two of you should be worried about."

She snapped her fingers and the car radio came to life.

"Attention all units, we've got reports of Sap smugglers traveling through the bayou. Be on the lookout for a tall Caucasian male, Light brown hair, green eyes, class T and a mixed Asian/Caucasian female, dark brown hair, brown eyes, class E."

Bobbi put on an evil smile "I was just hoping to delay you, but I'm too busy to be bothered anymore. Now every cop in the state is going to be looking for you."

She snapped her fingers again and the pair heard a pop under the hood.

"Good luck getting back to your friends if you can't hide…" Bobbi said as she vanished.

Scott quickly popped the hood.

"Shit" He cursed "She fired the camouflage control unit."

"Can you fix it?"

"I'd have an easier time parting the red sea right now…"

Sirens sounded in the distance.

"We need to get moving." She said as he slammed the hood shut.

"How far are we from the others?" He asked as he started driving.

"According to this… About fifty miles."

"Damn it."

Daisy looked over her shoulder.

"Um… there's about twenty cop cars behind us…"

He activated the comm and called back to the others on the Zephyr.

"And then she somehow remotely fried our cloak and we've got a Smokey convention on our tail." He told them "I don't want to have to lead them right to you, so buckle up."

"What does he mean by that?" Jas asked as the others jumped into their seats.

"He means sit down." Seven said, pulling her onto her lap as the repulsors kicked on and the jet roared into the air.

"Don't think this is scoring you any points" Jas said.

"This thing got any more tricks?" Daisy asked.

"MI-6 wouldn't play ball." Scott said "Best I got is the cloak."

"This thing can't fly or something?"

"Battery is too heavy and all the spare hover car parts in storage were reserved to maintain Lola."

"Coulson and that car…" Daisy said shaking her head.

"We just need to outrun them long enough."

A sudden blast of dirt and rock off the side shook their pair.

"Great…" Scott muttered before screaming "WATCH THE PAINT JOB!" out the window.

"There is one option." He said.

"What?"

"One of my geek hobbies is Mobile Suit Gundam." He explained. "Long story short, one incarnation of the show had their robots with a power source that could use up all its stored energy at once, giving the machine a massive boost of speed."

He flicked open a lid on a switch hidden in the gear stick. "Press this and the entire battery will discharge at once. Should get us going about 200 miles an hour or so, but once we use it, the battery is drained."

"And if the others can't get to us in time, we're stuck on foot." Daisy said, figuring where this was leading.

She looked over her shoulder again.

"Press it." She said.

"What? Why?"

A second blast went off right in front of them, Scott swerving quickly to avoid it.

"That's why."

"Give me two seconds." He said, hitting several switches and buttons on the control console.

"Right…" He said "Hold on tight…"

He pressed the button, and for a split second, the car seemed to die. The lights shut off, the displays on the console shut off and the car a seemed to slow down for a moment. Then, the two were pressed hard into their seats as the motors spun up to meet the massive amount of electricity that was being fed through the capacitor.

After less than a minute, the power supply was gone, and they were coasting on sheer momentum. No brakes, no steering, but they'd left their pursuers in the dust for the time being.

"So now what?" Daisy asked.

"We wait." Was all Scott could say.

The car eventually rolled to a stop and they climbed out, waiting for rescue. But they suddenly heard sirens from the other direction.

"Got a plan B?"

"Kinda" He said, pulling a small laser pointer out of his pocket.

"What are you gonna do?" She asked "Blink them to death?"

"Oh ye of little faith." He said, pointing the laser at the approaching cops.

"Come on…" He said "Work damn it."

"They're getting closer."

"I know."

"They're even more of them than the ones' chasing us. We're not going to be able to fight our way out of this one."

Suddenly, the police cars started to explode. The Zephyr zoomed in from behind them, guns blazing. It spun around and lowered itself in front of the pair, automatically dropping it's rear ramp.

"GUYS! GET OUT HERE!" Scott yelled. "We need a push… NOW!"


	4. First Stop: On the Run

Chapter 39

"You intentionally drained the batteries to nothing?" Thawne asked

"Well it worked." Scott said as the plane's gate rose and locked

"Yeah, just barely." Seven added

"Don't start." Scott said, walking forward. "We need to get back in the air."

"Talk to me," He said, passing through the main cabin "How we looking Fitz?"

"We need another six and a half hours."

"We could fly north, find some friendly airspace." Daisy mentioned

"I wouldn't count on it being friendly." Jemma said.

"Why?" Daisy asked with a look that said she knew what the answer would be.

"While you two were out playing detective, we did some more research." Fitz said "While they don't advertise it, the remaining non-gifted section of the US is controlled by a military cabal… which in turn is controlled by Hydra."

"OK… Not what I was expecting…"

"We stay here, they kill you. We go there, they kill us…" Scott said. "Great… Canada?"

"Hydra also." Jemma said

"Australia?" Daisy asked

"Unfortunately," Scott chimed in "in our current state that's out of range without refueling again and by the time we got there, the machine would be jump ready."

"How about North Korea?" Thawne asked

The others just looked at him.

"I'll take that as a no."

"Let's just get flying again" Daisy said to Scott "We're sitting ducks here."

"Don't need to tell me twice." Scott said, walking towards the cockpit.

"Did you guys check what happened to SHIELD here?" Scott asked from the cockpit once they were airborne and under way "If it ever even existed?"

"No, it didn't exist." Jemma said

"A world like mine, SSR?" Seven asked.

"No, it's weird." Jemma continued "There was no single agency that did everything. There was an SSR, but they ended up under the Department of Energy."

"The what now?" Seven asked

"We'll explain later" Barry said

"Running theme with her." Daisy mutter

Thawne was rubbing his chin "No solid command structure, made them all easy for this Hyperion character to pick off" he noted.

"And Hydra to take over" Fitz added.

"I've put us in a pseudo random holding pattern over the gulf." Scott said, rejoining the others "Fuel is probably our most precious commodity right now, not everyone will be as willing to part with a few hundred gallons of JetA like the CCPD was. We need a place to put down and wait."

"Hey guys…" Barry said, looking out a window "I think I have an idea."

Daisy came up behind him "Whatcha got?"

"How much you want to bet that's empty?" Barry asked, pointing to an old looking ship that had run aground on some rocks below them and broken in half.

"Beats anything else."

Scott had an angry look on his face. "You have got to be kidding me…" he groaned as he made a low pass in the fading sunlight.

"Fraid not…" Fitz said standing behind them as they looked at the writing on the ship's side.

"The _Lemurian Star_… This is someone's idea of a sick joke." Scott moaned. "Well, it could just be a similarly named ship."

Scott set the plane down and the team slowly climbed out onto the launch deck, greeted by a familiar symbol, just not the one they were hoping for.

"No SHIELD, no reason for Hydra to hide." Scott said, pointing at the cephalopod logo on the wall with his flashlight.

"Now what?" Barry said.

"Well, we have to assume there are still some goons watching this place." Daisy said "We'll split into teams, grab what we can and get out."

"God this reminds me of the Principia" Daisy said as she and Scott searched the ship, heading towards the supply stores.

"Least we don't have to worry about falling from the sky…" He said, with a bit of unease.

"Something the matter?" She asked him.

"I…"

"Cards on the table" she reminded him.

"The Principia." He said

"What about it?"

"While you guys were on that mission… I saw one of those fear things in the Lighthouse."

"Oh…" She said, "What did you see?"

"You really want to know?" He asked

She nodded.

"You might not like it…

"Babe" She said, shining the light in his face "Out with it."

"It was… well… your ghost, standing over your dead body."

"Holy shit…"

"You… it… berated me for not doing anything. For not telling you how I felt. The only reason I knew it wasn't real was I had the com signal from upstairs in my ear in case I was needed and I heard you talking."

"How did you get rid of… it?"

"Did you know fear monsters can be affected by telekinesis?" He said "I pushed in into the wall and it disappeared."

"I thought your powers didn't work when you were afraid?"

"I need focus, when I'm scared, I tend to lose it. But..." he said as he took her hand "I heard your voice and I found that focus. I had resolved myself to say something when you got back, but then I got busy and then… well… Fitz"

"Oh… right…" She said. "Well that's all in the past now" she said, giving him a peck on the cheek as they continued searching for supplies.

Meanwhile…

"How did I get stuck with you?" Seven asked

"Because they trust neither of us…" Thawne said "who better to watch each other…"

Seven looked at him with a small sneer.

"Are you really here just to tail Barry or is there something else?"

"You want to know something? You're nosey…" He groaned "Barry's as of your time unborn daughter Nora did something. She's a speedster two. I'm not exactly sure what, but it's causing temporal quakes. And I think you folks showing up isn't a coincidence."

"Well, it is, like it or not." She said, "Did you just hear something?"

A clang of metal echo nearby

"It's probably nothing." He said.

"What's matter?" She teased "Scared?"

"Shut up" the older man retorted.

"Here" Thawne said, pointing his flashlight at the door to the infirmary.

"They send us for medical supplies, the send my pregnant wife after weapons and ammo" Seven said…

"Careful" Jemma yelled

"I'm not a complete invalid yet." Jas retorted. "I can move a small box or two. Better than being stuck on the plane by myself."

"You really should be resting." Jemma told her "And no one says 'invalid" anymore.

"I've gone maybe fifty yards at most."

"This place is full of dangers. One small scratch can lead to tetanus. Will you at the very least sit down?"

"Fine" Jas said with a small huff before plopping herself on a crate. "You know, one area Rogers allowed us to progress in was medicine. I've gotten tetanus shots regularly."

Jemma rummaged through a few more crates.

"I've been wondering" Jemma asked her twin "What happened? If we're the same person, why are we so different?"

"You mean like 'why am I into girls?" Jas said.

"Well, among other things." Jemma replied a bit sheepishly.

"You guess is about as good as any other. I'm sure you and your parents had a comfortable life in Yorkshire. I was born and spent the first few years of my life in a refugee camp in Croydon. My parents were selected to work for Rogers. You do ten years of service and they let you go. We were relocated to Southern California. The one thing about Skye's back-story that fits with my Daisy is they grew up in Los Angeles."

"Hum…" Jemma said "So you're a couple of California girls…"

"My parents did a lot of hard work covering their tracks and movements. No one in the government was wise to them." Jas said, letting her accent slip even further. "But eventually, Leopold, our Fitz, got suspicious of me and them and we had to move them. So they faked their deaths. But the fire got out of hand and Skye kept trying to go back in to 'save' them that May actually stepped in to help."

"That's why Skye remembered her…"

"I had to tamper with her memories the next time she was plugged into the machine." Jas admitted "make her think CHIMERA set the fire to get at her."

"You screwed with your wife's memories to protect your cover?" Jemma asked incredulously. "That's what Seven meant…"

"Oh, so you trust her word over mine now?" Jas said, equally POed.

"Well, she seems to have been honest to everyone so far. You've been lying left and right, even to your supposed soul mate."

"I'm a spy" Jas said "It's what I do. You of all people should know that."

"The difference is you've been lying to us for no reason."

"I have my reasons and you don't need to know them."

"This is about Alyssa? Isn't it?" Jemma asked.

Jas' mouth fell open.

"How did you..?"

"May told me."

"Yes. It's about her." Jas said, sitting back down "It's all about her."

"What was she like?" Jemma asked.

"You don't know?"

"I didn't have an older sister." Jemma said as Jas began to tell her about Alyssa Simmons.

The sun had set in the distance, and the teams began making their way back to the plane.

"So three laptops and a desktop?" Scott asked as Barry and Fitz climbed back onto the plane with the salvaged computer parts.

"Yeah, this wreck looks like it's been here for years." Fitz said "We're lucky if this stuff even has windows ME on it. How did you guys do?"

"Shit ton of C rations." Scott said

"I thought they were MREs?" Daisy asked

Scott made a small huff "Grandpa Kent's habits rubbed off, sue me…"

"How about Jemma and Jas?" Fitz asked

"They found themselves in a metaphysical discussion and came back with just a flare gun…" Daisy said. Looking at the two.

"Alright then… Has anyone seen the gruesome twosome?" Scott asked as he stuck his head out the door.

Suddenly, Thawne and Seven came running out of the door onto the ship's deck in an absolute panic.

"Start the plane!" They yelled

"What?"

"Just do it!" Seven screamed as they climbed the steps into the cabin. Suddenly, a massive tentacle monstrosity burst through the door they just come through.

"Because of course it would…" he muttered as the creature roared, causing a second to burst through a deck hatch.

"OK, we're leaving!" Scott yelled, leaping into the cockpit and firing up the thrusters.


	5. First Stop: The Next Move

Chapter 40

"What the fuck are those?" Daisy asked, jumping next to Scott into what was becoming her regular seat.

"I don't know. I don't want to know." He said as more of them began to crowd the deck. Scott hit a button and the interfaced changed. The plane's wingtips opened, revealing two of the plane's four guns.

"Open wide…" he said as he pulled the trigger.

The guns fired, punching a hole in the ship, and causing it to collapse in on itself, sinking further into the water.

"Was that absolutely necessary?" Daisy asked him

"Tentacle monsters on a ship controlled by Hydra." He said "You do the math…"

"Then they know we're here and we need to be somewhere else… Like NOW!"

"What happened?" Jemma asked Seven and Thawne

"That… thing just jumped out of nowhere and tried to eat us." Thawne said

Jemma looked him over. "That thing must spit acid, you've got a nasty burn on your back."

"Once I get my speed back, it going to heal." He said. "Just get me some painkillers."

Jemma ran back to their medical supply stock.

"Thanks." Thanwe said to Seven.

"Well, if you didn't come back in one piece, they'd suspect me of doing it."

"Maybe we can find an old smuggling base or something" Scott said to Daisy.

"How about we just stick to the air?" She said.

Suddenly, the radar began to ping. Scott moved the controls, turning the plane to the left and dropping in altitude. The blips followed.

"We've got company." He said. He looked out the window and saw that it was flying people. No suits, no wing packs, just flying along. The group split in two and came around the sides of the plane.

"Hang on!" Scott yelled.

Fitz looked up at the second device's screen. It was showing it was completely charged.

"We're good to go!" Fitz yelled.

"Then punch it!"

Fitz hit the trigger and the Zephyr vanished, leaving the approaching flyers to crash into each other.

Several thousand miles away, a tall, imposing man was sitting at his desk eating a late dinner. "So, they got away?" He said to his subordinates, trembling before him.

"Yes sir, Lord Hyperion, they used the device and escaped. They did do us one favor, they destroyed one of the Saps bioweapon production labs."

Hyperion, the leader of the Homo Superior race, slammed his hand on the desk, breaking it in two, sending the food flying.

"So what?" He yelled "That's just one monster factory down, God knows how many more to go! Do you idiots realize how far you've delayed our goal? We were supposed to get rid of them. That woman offered us a counter agent to Argonite if we caught them! I could have crushed the remaining Saps with ease!"

"Temper, temper, your Lordship" A woman's voice said, "Don't want to burst a blood vessel."

"Oh…" Hyperion said "It's you… I didn't hear you come in. I'm sorry to report that my men have failed."

"I'm sorry to hear that." She said, "Unfortunate really, I was looking forward to working with someone of your… caliber… on future occasions."

An aid burst into the room

"Sir, we've got incoming! ICBMs!"

"Ugh… third time today…" Hyperion groaned, and he stood and walked towards the door to deal with the incoming threat.

"Well, that's my cue to leave then. Need to check in on another friend" The strange woman said "I wonder what an Argonite based fusion warhead would do to someone like me…" She pondered as she disappeared.

"A what!?" Hyperion yelled as a blast wave tore through the base.

Meanwhile…

May's eyes opened and she found herself being dragged down a hallway by two of the hunters.

"Well, she's finally awake" one of them said "Told him he'd wacked her too damn hard"

The passage opened up into a large room. There were large, free standing glass cubs around its edges. The two brutes tossed May into one of the glass enclosures via a small opening.

"When I get out of here I'm going to kill you freaks." She yelled as the wall reformed.

"It's no use" a woman's voice said behind her "The glass in soundproof unless Mistress wants it otherwise.

My turned to look where the voice had come from.

"Bobbi?" May asked.

"No, my name's Kelly. Kelly Grayson." The other woman replied. She was wearing a rather expensive looking gown and was sitting on a king-sized bed, the only thing in the room.

"You look just like her."

"I know. I think that's why I'm here…"

"How long have you been in here?"

"Three weeks. Welcome to Mistress Morse's Menagerie of Pretty Things. Hail Hydra and all that jazz."

The opaque glass suddenly became clear. May looked out at the other cages. All women, some of whom looked like Bobbi, all in fancy dresses.

"She's got a thing for girls in ball gowns." Kelly said.

"Mine was the same way." May said. "I was married to the Bobbi of my world… before she died. She loved dressing up. But this is sick."

"I'm sorry about your wife and I'm sorry you feel this way about your new life." Kelly said "Come sit, we'd better get to know each other, we're going to be here a while. Mistress expects all the new couples to perform for her once they are settled together. So, what's your name?"

"I'm sorry, what?"

"Don't worry, you'll enjoy it." She got up off the bed and strode over to May, embracing her.

"Look, Kelly was it? You're gorgeous and all that, but this doesn't feel right. Actually, it's a little creepy."

"Come on, live a little gorgeous." Kelly said as she kissed May's neck.

"May," she said "My name's Melinda May."


	6. Second Stop: Stormy Outlook

Chapter 41

"Where are we now?" Daisy asked Scott. They'd exited the dimension jump flying through a raging thunderstorm.

"Give me a second." He pulled them up above the clouds. It was pitch dark, middle of the night.

"No signal…" He said, looking at the displays. "No coms, no radar, no GPS… nothing."

He flicked a few more switches

"Nothing even on the radio?" Daisy asked

"No. dead air all the way around."

"This can't be good."

"That's the least of our problems." He said "We need to get away from this storm and set down.

"How is everyone back there?" Scott called back.

"Not too much worse for the wear." Jemma replied.

"Speak for yourself" Thawne said "You keep flying like this and I'm gonna get airsick… And I've been to the moon…"

"Sorry, it's the storm" Scott added a few hundred more feet to get away from the wind currents.

"How are we looking Fitz?"

The scottsman fiddled with the controls on the Stark Devices.

"Six hours on second machine. Nineteen hours on the first."

While the rest of the group went to sleep, Daisy stayed with Scott at the controls.

"You should probably get some shut eye as well." He said.

"Who is going to make sure you stay awake?" she asked.

"Lot like driving, keep moving the controls keeps me alert."

"That's not a thing…"

"Tell that to my mum…"

"You're Mum?"

"She's from Wales… Gets bent out of shape when I call her plain old 'mom' and it sometimes slips through"

They flew onwards, the large storm raging below.

"That has to be a tropical storm or something, because we've been flying over it for over two hours now."

"Still nothing on the radio." Daisy said, "And I can't get a 4g connection or any other sort of link to the internet."

"With our luck, this place doesn't have advanced technology."

"We're assuming a lot. We're assuming that Hydra Bobbi wasn't from that last world."

"Assumptions are all we got to go on these days. Unless someone can come up with an interdimensional Wikipedia…" Scott said, rubbing his hand over his face.

"You're tired." Daisy told him. "You said this thing could be flown by practically anyone, let me try."

"…OK fine…" He said, taking his hands off the yoke.

He sat back and closed his eyes.

"I do remember something." Scott continued "Evil Bobbi was yelling back on Barry's earth at Jed Clampet and Company when we first encountered her. She said something about the 'you had one job' thing being a cliché on 'many earths' or most or whatever. Would you talk to someone like that if you're from the same earth?"

"No unless you're weird… or crazy."

"And she does qualify as both."

"I just hope May and Iris are OK…"

"From what Jas has said, her May is just as much a survivor as ours. And from what Barry told me, his wife isn't a quitter. I guess we'll just have to have faith."

Iris West-Allen awoke with a start. She'd been chloroformed after being dragged through the portal.

"Well, she's awake"

Iris looked to her side and saw two figures standing to one side. One was Sara Lance, the other she didn't recognize.

"Hello again Iris."

"Sara? Oh thank god." Iris cried "get me out of these!"

Sara just stood there. "Now why would I want to do that? It would be against my mistress' instructions."

"She's quite pretty." The other figure said.

"Oh, that's right, you two haven't me yet." Sara said "Iris, this is my girlfriend Ava."

"hi, great… now untie me!"

"If she's so pretty," Ava asked "why isn't she with the others."

"Because, Mistress wishes she join us."

"Join you?" Iris asked "Those aren't disguises, you actually work for that bitch?"

Ava stepped forward and smacked iris.

"You will not speak of Mistress that way!"

Sara grabed her lover's arm

"Ava, she's not ready jet. She has not been shown the justification of serving."

"Sorry, my love." Ava said, stepping back.

At this point the lights came on and Iris saw she was wearing the same black uniform as the two.

"Barry will come for me."

"Iris" Sara said, holding out a helmet like the one she was wearing "Our mistress is counting on it."


	7. Second Stop: A Capitol Conundrum

Chapter 42

Daisy looked over at Scott, finally having fallen asleep in his pilot's chair.

"Well, at least he doesn't snore." She said to herself. The first inklings of dawn appeared on the horizon as the jet continued on, looking for someplace to land.

Daisy deiced to pass the time by having some fun with her new boyfriend.

"Scott, I wanna have your babies." She said in a seductive tone. He didn't move.

"Scott, wanna go in the back for a little private time, maybe the backseat of the car."

He still didn't budge.

"I wanna have a threesome with you and the other me!"

Scott's head moved, only to flop onto the other shoulder.

"huh… out like a light." She said, giving up.

A few minutes went by when a light on the instrument panel lit up, and a small "PING" played.

Scott jolted awake.

"That's a S.H.I.E.L.D. IFF!" he yelled.

"We don't know that." She said, "and that woke you up?"

"These pings contain a long, special encryption." He said, "The computer would have ignored it otherwise."

"It could have been anyone"

"You're going to tell me that in the plentitude of universes, someone picked the exact same 256KB code?"

She conceded he had a point

"Well, we know someone is down there somewhere." He said "and we might find them soon. Look."

The clouds were thinning out, they'd reached the edge of the storm.

"Go wake up the others" Scott old her as he resumed flying the plane.

Twenty minutes later and signs of a city appeared on the horizon. Soon, which city became clear.

"Washington DC, dead ahead!" Scott yelled back.

Scott took a low approach over the Potomac.

"Why does this place look deserted?" Jemma asked out loud.

The group looked out at the city stunned.

The roads were littered with abandoned cars, cars that looked like they all crashed.

Not one soul in sight.

The plane swung west towards Theodore Roosevelt Island.

"My God…" Scott said flatly "It's not done…"

There was the Triskelion, the old headquarters of SHIELD. Construction cranes dotted the area around the building, most of them collapsed.

"It's not finished…" He said again "this can't be right…"

He switched the plane to hovering mode and stared down the massive building.

"You OK?" Daisy asked him.

"Yeah… It's just weird seeing it like this…" He said "I was born in the medical wing here. My parents were with my grandfather of a tour of the complex's construction when my mother went into labor. The contractions were too close together, so they delivered me there. It's always been special to me. I was actually kind of sad when Cap crashed the Insight carriers into it. Built to see it like this? It's not complete, and the cranes… something happened."

"Your life really does revolve around S.H.I.E.L.D." came a voice from the door. Seven was standing there.

"How are you feeling?" Daisy asked her doppelganger.

"Surprised you care." The other girl said in a huff. "I'm all right at the moment. No signs of going nuts. Not yet at least."

"I'm gonna put the plane down at Reagan and we can drive back." Scott said "there should be fuel there."

Scott swung the plane around and made for the nearby airport.

"This is giving me the creeps." Barry said. "I feel like I'm on an episode of 'The Walking Dead."

"Amen to that" Fitz said as they climbed down onto the airport tarmac.

"Welcome to Washington National Airport." Thawne read from a sign "No mention of Ronald Regan at all…"

They found a door into the terminal and forced it open.

"The place seems so clean." Jemma said as they entered the main concourse.

The stores were unlocked, their shelves still stocked with inventory.

"HOLY SHIT!" Seven said as she ran over to the others with a Washington Post.

"LOOK!" She said in a panic, pointing at the date.

"Did you pay for that?" Scott asked before Daisy elbowed him in the gut.

"Look! Look at the date!"

Daisy took the paper from her twin

"July 7th… 1991!?" She said in shock. "Something isn't right here. The paper feels old"

Scott looked around "Old newspaper for sale, an Eastern Airlines check-in desk over here, a TWA desk over there… It's like the world stopped"

"Maybe the Triskelion will have answers." Jemma said.

"God I hope" Daisy said as they went back outside to unload the car.

"You didn't plug it in?" Daisy screamed.

The car was not responding. A quick test showed its battery had not been charged.

"It plugs in automatically," Scott said, pointing his flashlight under the car "The charger is built into the clamp, but it's not charging. Might have gotten nicked."

"So now what do we do?"

"We could walk?"

"What about your bike?"

"I didn't have room for it. I left it at my parent's house."

"I guess walk it is" she said, dejectedly "But what about the storm?"

"We've got a few hours and our jump timer is almost clear to go."

They informed the others and then began to trek along the highway northwards along the river.

They soon discovered that it was probably for the best that they were walking as they kept encountering small pile ups that were blocking the road.

"Whatever happened to the people here happened all at once." Scott said, looking around.

"But there are no bodies… You don't think?"

"I mean anything is possible, but we're talking about it having happened when we were three years old…"

"Could it be…Thanos came early?"

"But the guy said his MO was to cull half of all life. Who the hell pissed him off enough to snuff it all out?"

It took them about forty five minutes, but they eventually reached the entrance to the Triskelion. Daisy quaked the door open and the two went inside.

"Almost as clean as the airport terminal." Scott said. "Still feels like I'm in a Stephen King book…"

"Oh, calm down." Daisy said. In the distance of the empty halls, a thud echoed.

"Probably the winds from the storm." She said.

A second thud followed; this time much closer.

"Sounds like a clumsy wind…" Scott said

The two got into a fighting stance, when an unexpected sound echoed through the atrium.

"Oh My God!" A man's voice yell "People! Actual People! I knew they'd send someone for me!"

The team heard footsteps running up behind them.

They turned around and looked, the man stopping in his tracks when their eyes made contact.

"…Daisy…?" He asked

"…Lincoln...?"


	8. Second Stop: Roads Not Taken

Chapter 43

Their mouths hung open.

"You're dead…" they said to each other, pointing.

"How are you here?" she asked, still in shock. "You died…"

"I could say the same for you…" he replied before noticing Scott "Who's this guy? No… wait… you're that repair tech from the basement, aren't you? What was it, Ripley? Ridley...?"

"Riley"

"Whatever."

Lincoln turned back to Daisy.

"I don't care how, I'm so glad you're here." He put his arms on her waist and drew her close. "I missed you so much."

"EHEM!" Scott fake coughed.

"Something wrong?"

"Um... Yeah… You're getting a bit handsy with my girlfriend."

"Your girlfriend?" Lincoln asked, confused. "But… I… We…"

Daisy took a step back and gave him a teary-eyed look.

"Lincoln I'm sorry, but we're not here to rescue you." she said, "We're from a different earth. Our Lincoln died over two years ago."

"So you're not… my wife?" He said, dumbstruck

Daisy shook her head no.

Lincoln sat down on a planter.

"You, our… he… god Seven was right, this pronoun stuff is aggravating. The Lincoln that Scott and I knew sacrificed himself to save the world" She told him "He died killing Hive. He was a hero."

"What's a Hive?" Lincoln asked, looking up.

"Let's backtrack…" Scott said "Planet Maveth? Ring a bell?"

"Sure, that's where Jemma got trapped for six months. You helped Fitz bring her back."

"Did Ward and Hydra try to go back?"

Lincoln looked at him like he was crazy 'Yeah, why is all this so important?"

"What happened to Ward?"

"Colson brought him back; he stood trial and was sent to prison for the rest of his life. What's that got to do with anything?"

"Our Coulson killed Ward," Daisy told him "He crushed his chest. the… thing that was infesting that astronaut took Ward over and you… you died killing him…"

"I died, killing that 'It' thing?"

"Believe it or not, it was actually our prototype?"

"Our Prototype?"

"Scott's an Inhuman two" Daisy said. "Hive was the first Inhuman."

"No kidding." he said, looking the other man over. "What can you do?"

Scott held put his hand and pushed it outward, casing Lincoln to topple backwards.

"Point taken."

A loud crash of thunder echoed. The storm was getting closer.

"We're gonna need a place to crash, it seems." Scott said.

Scott called back to the Zephyr to confer with others. Fitz and Jemma were shocked to hear they found another Lincoln. They estimated the storm would take a good six to eight hours to pass. Scott then talked Barry through moving the plane into a hanger for shelter. Once it started to rain, Lincoln led them upstairs to the director's office, where he'd been camping out.

"How long have you been here?" Daisy asked

"About 6 months. I think. Lost track of days ages ago" Lincoln said "Not that I care. Every day without you I…"

Lincoln lowered his head let out a sigh.

"What happened?" She asked.

"You… My Daisy was… killed. Had her neck snapped by a Kree."

"You went into the future?"

"You guys went to?" Lincoln asked, confused.

"They did" Scott added from the window. "I was out, missed being blown to bits and didn't see hide nor hair of them for almost a year."

"We found ourselves in the lighthouse when we got back. I was wandering the building when I found this weird looking computer."

"OH GOD DAMN IT!" Scott screamed.

"What?" Lincoln asked in a panic.

"We've got two of those already on our plane." Daisy said. "Wait, if you've got one, why are you still here?"


	9. Second Stop: Three Wheels, No Breaks

Chapter 44

"Oh Sweet Jesus will this nonsense ever stop?!" Scott yelled, standing over the remains of the shattered machine.

"I materialized here and the machine and I were about 20 feet up." Lincoln explained "I caught on that catwalk and it just fell to the ground in a million bits."

The three started to dig through the wreckage.

Scott held up a small box.

"I think this is the substitute for the tesseract on the original." He said "Fitz said when he inspected the second machine, he found this inside it. We should hang on to this."

"Motherboard looks fine." Scott said, kneeling down in front of the machine.

He pulled a large chuck out and carried it to a nearby table.

"Maybe if we find the memory module, we can find the code to take you home" Daisy said to Lincoln.

"Do we waste a jump right now, though?" Scott asked "We could bring him with us, he could be useful."

"Nine people on the Zephyr?" She asked. "That's kinda cramped already."

"Well it can't be that bad. _Zephyr One_ is pretty big." Lincoln said

"It's not Zephyr One" Scott explained from the floor "It's a custom-built transport, I just nicknamed '_Zephyr Zero'_"

"Either way, we can't just leave you here, it wouldn't be right" Daisy told him.

"He's going to be OK with having me along?" Lincoln asked Daisy quietly "I sense hostility…"

"He'll be fine." She said.

"Here we go." Scott called "I got it."

He handed Daisy the necessary parts.

"You guys get this back upstairs. I'm gonna try something, be along in a minute."

"So… all we need to do is plug this into a monitor and it should give us the information we need." Daisy said with the cobble together computer laid out on the desk.

She handed him a cable. "Do your thing"

He released an electric charge and the equipment blinked to life.

"It's working…It's Working!" Lincoln yelled as the pile of junk booted up, showing the codes for the worlds it had been to. He and Daisy embraced in joy.

Then, suddenly, in the heat of the moment, they kissed.

"Hey guys; so I think I got the right part to get the cloak on the car fixed…" Scott said, walking into the room. He turned around and stormed out.

"Oh God…" Daisy said, pulling away from Lincoln. She immediately began to run after Scott. "Write those numbers down." She told Lincoln. She stopped for a second looking out the window before chasing after Scott.

"Scott!" Daisy called "Wait! Please!"

"Go away." He said angrily, still walking away back towards the hanger "Leave me alone. Go make smoochy smoochy with your boyfriend some more."

"Scott, please…"

He stopped and turned towards her. His face said it all. He was _PISSED_

"You know, I could tell I was just the second choice. The backup plan. 'Well, he's cute and he's nice I'll give him a shot... Oh, wait a second, look, we found Lincoln again! Let's go right back to where we were, screw everything that's happened with the guy I've been with'. I tried being the better man, welcome him with open arms and this is what it gets me. I'm still second best."

"I…" She tried to say but he continued.

"I mean, he's a doctor, he's ripped. You both miss each other. What the hell have I got in comparison?"

"Me…" she said "You've got me. Yeah, I miss our Lincoln, but he was never my actual boyfriend."

She reached out and grabbed his hand

"Scott… _You're_ my boyfriend. Right here. Right now. The only man I love is you."

Scott looked at her unbelieving.

"OK, well, for one thing, Lincoln and I never really got past second base. Meanwhile, you and I have had sex how many times in the past few days?"

"I didn't know…" he said

"And how many miles did you carry me that night to get me to a doctor when I was bleeding?"

"I don't remember, it's all a blur."

"I checked. It was 17 miles without stopping, over rough terrain. You carried me for seven hours. You stayed by my side till they had me patched up. You saved my life, how in the world could I say no to you asking me out?"

"Daisy…I…" He started to say before she put her finger over his lips.

"I don't know what came over me when I kissed him," She said "and I'm sorry I did it and I'm sorry for hurting you. He's not the Lincoln we knew, and I don't love him. I love you."

She stepped forward to him and they kissed.

"I'm sorry I got mad." He told her

"You had every reason to be mad at me." Daisy said, "Here I was worried about you hurting me and I go and stab you in the back."

She looked up into his eyes "I'm sorry. Can you forgive me?"

He just nodded.

"I love you" she said again.

"And I suddenly feel even worse about how we were treating Seven." Scott said.

Daisy chuckled slightly "come on, you need to see this." Pulling him by the hand.

She led Scott back into the director's office.

"Scott… I'm sorry man" Lincoln said "I keep forgetting… That was completely out of line me…"

"I'm sorry two, I've tried to keep it in check, but I've been subconsciously a jerk about this situation. I… I felt threatened. I felt inadequate."

Scott turned to Daisy

"Batshit crazy as it's been, this has been the best week of my life. Because I've spent it with you. I didn't want to lose you so quickly. I've never been this happy."

Scott turned back to Lincoln.

"I'm sorry you had to watch that. I know how gut wrenching it can feel, to see the woman you love in the arms of someone else."

"If I ever get back, I'm gonna have to apologize to the other you." Lincoln said.

"Let's hope we can give you that chance." Scott said, offering his hand in friendship.

"Let's not hope, let's do." Lincoln said, shaking it

"So, what did I need to see?" Scott asked Daisy

"That." Daisy said, pointing out into the storm.

"You're going to need to be more specific."

"In the distance." She said "On the Capitol building. There's a light."


	10. Second Stop: Like a Bolt out of the Blue

Chapter 45

"That wasn't there before." Lincoln said nervously.

Scott called back to the Zephyr. "Anyone wander outside before the storm hit?"

"_No_." Came back the reply from Fitz, "_We're all here. What's the matter_?

Scott took out the sunglasses he'd used a few days prior and turned them on. "Take a look.

"_That's a light on the capitol building_?"

"Yeah. The thing is, Daisy and I believe this Earth was attached by Thanos early. And he killed everyone, not just half the population."

"_So…_"

"So the nine of us are the only humans on this entire planet." He said, "and that light was not there before."

"And someone had to have turned it on." Daisy added

"So, do we investigate it?" Scott asked

"Why?" Lincoln asked

"If someone turned it on, it had to have been for a reason." Scott replied "even if just for light, there has to be someone else out there. You want to leave them here, alone forever?"

"We'll wait for the storm to pass and check it out." Daisy said

The light then suddenly began to flash.

"Ok… now that's interesting." Daisy said.

"It's flashing SOS." Scott noted. "Do we wait, someone could be hurt?"

"I know you're not used to field work, but you don't have to try to save everyone." Lincoln said

"No where's the fun in that?" He said with a smirk

"How would you even get to them?"

"I could try to get one of those APCs downstairs started."

"I thought you were a computer technician?" Lincoln asked, following Scott round the garage. "What do you know about vehicles?"

"There's a lot you don't know about me." Scott said, kicking the tires on one of the heavy assault trucks.

"The bad boys came with 7L 12-cylinder diesel engines. Getting them started should be easy."

Scott opened the engine compartment and shoved Lincoln's hand inside.

"Come on Nikola Tesla…"

"Why do you two keeping using me as a battery?" he asked as the engine growled to life.

"You're the one who keeps saying 'every Inhuman has a purpose."

"That's not what I meant." Lincoln said as they joined Daisy inside before asking "Are you sure you know how to drive this?"

"I can fly planes; this shouldn't be so hard." Scott told him "Why the hell are there six pedals?"

Once he was able to figure out the driving controls, Scott drove the heavy assault vehicle right through the garage door out onto the highway bridge that ran under the building, plowing into and over the crashed cars.

"Do you have to drive on top of the cars?" Lincoln asked as the truck bounced again.

"Seriously, you are no fun." Scott said.

"I'm a doctor" Lincoln reminded him. "I like to avoid methods of causing injury. Like your driving"

"Everyone's a critic."

"Both of you stop it" Daisy.

"We're trying to get across a river in an abandoned city. Over a bridge loaded with empty cars. How am I supposed to drive?"

They eventually made it to the front steps of the Capitol, mostly by driving on the grass of the National Mall and avoiding more cars.

"Hello?" Scott yelled as they entered the building.

"You seriously think someone is going to hear you?" Lincoln asked.

"You did…" Daisy said

"Well… this place is bigger."

The trio explored the empty halls, attempting to find their way to the room with the light.

After about an hour, they found a single door with a crack of light coming out from under it.

"Here we are." Daisy said, taking position on one side of the door and Scott moved to the other.

"three… two… one…" Scott kicked the door in.

"It's a spot lamp…" Scott said.

The lamp looked weird, almost organic in design. It was hooked up to a round, transparent contained with a light blue liquid inside.

"So… not a ghost." Lincoln said

"Thankfully, no." Daisy said with a slight grimace, remembering the so-called ghosts she'd dealt with.

"By the way," Scott asked "have you heard from Robbie since you guys got back?"

"He's been off the grid the last few…"

Daisy's sentence was cut off by a flash of lighting striking one of the construction cranes surrounding the distant Triskelion. Never meant to have been left out the elements for three decades, the jolt caused the old tower to buckle, its arm toppling over and crashing into the top levels of the tower.

"What just happened...?" Daisy asked

"You mean aside from three grown secret agents pissing their pants and having the fear of God thrust into them?" Scott asked "Not much."

"That thing crushed the director's office." Lincoln said in shock…

"Yes, yes it did."

"You know what this means?"

"Someone was in this room. Someone knew that would happen. Someone knew we would have died. Someone put this light here to get us to come here, to save our lives."


	11. Second Stop: What comes after lightning

Chapter 46

The three spent the rest of the storm in the Capitol building, not going far from the light. By the time the storm had completely passed, it was dark again.

They packed up and returned to the APC parked outside, never noticing the figure watching them from the upper level of the rotunda as they crossed.

Scott looked out at the mall from the top of the steps.

"It's sad, really. Leaving this place empty."

"It was empty before I got here." Lincoln reminded

"Still, he's right. It feels weird."

"Then again…" Scott said as he started walking "We could always come back and…"

He didn't get to finish his sentence as he was suddenly crashing into the ground and tumbling down the stairs.

"OWWW." He said in a daze.

"Scott!" Daisy screamed "Are you alright?

"Who put these stairs here…" He said. He moved slightly and pulled something out from under him.

Captain America's shield.

"Just what I always wanted to do… trip over a national treasure…"

"Do you think this was put here for us to find two?" Lincoln asked

"No, look at the damage around here." Daisy said moving her flashlight.

"That's not weathering." Scott noted "The final battle was here."

"Astute observation, young warrior…" A voice said, a deep, man's voice.

The three jumped.

"…Thor…" they said in unison as the figure stepped out of the building into the headlights of the APC.

The mighty thunder god stood before the three young Inhumans. His beard long, his hair a mess and his eyes sullen.

"How are you… What…"

"I should ask the same question of you." The Asgaurdian said "I have been trapped here since that wretched Titan slew my comrades and this planet's people with little more than a snap of his fingers…"

"Your comrades? The Avengers?" Daisy asked.

"Verily."

"You found Captain Rogers I assume, but who were the others?"

"Dr Pym, Lady Janet and young Master Stark."

"We're from another Earth, one where you didn't arrive until a few years ago. One where Thanos was defeated." Daisy said, holding Scott's hand "Our friend here is from a similar Earth."

"Travelers of realms… I see."

"Did you turn on that light?" Lincoln asked

"No. I thought it was your doing."

He turned and looked out into the darkness.

"Every year I return here." He told them "It's my penance for my failure. When Thanos killed them all, Mjölnir fell from my hands. I was no longer worthy. They died because of me. Thanos specifically chose to keep me alive so it could suffer for my stupidity. I was waiting out the storm in one of the museum buildings when I saw that light come on. Once it had passed, I went to investigate."

He walked down the stairs and knelt. The three followed him.

"Hello, old friend" he said to the hammer, lying there.

"You haven't tried to move it?" Lincoln asked.

"I can't. I'm not worthy of it."

"Because of what it says or because of what your say?" Daisy asked.

"Daisy… babe… thunder god…" Scott reminded her "best not to piss him off."

"No… I failed. Whether the hammer thinks I'm worthy is of no consequence. I failed. I had the chance to end this and I didn't."

"You chose to stay here. You exiled yourself." Lincoln said "you could go back to Asgard."

"Yes. I could call for the Bifrost, but I chose not to. So long as the people of this world remain dust in the wind, I shall not set foot in those golden halls."

"You were going up against someone with the powers of the cosmos in his fingertips." Scott said "You're chances were slim to none. But there is still a chance you could do something about it."

"Like what?"

"Take the gauntlet. Unite the stones yourself." Daisy said.

"We're going to go now." Scott said "Let you be alone with your thoughts. But, we could always come back. We're looking for some people who were kidnapped and a woman with purple eyes who might be behind it."

"Purple eyes…" Thor thought. "That's sounds like a Siltavion. If it is a quest you are on then..." Thor said, getting up "I think that shield might come in handy. The Captain would probably prefer it to be used to help those in need, not sitting here, a relic of disaster and death."

Scott picked it up and handed it to Daisy.

"You hold on to it." He said to her.

"Why me?"

"OK, you want to carry the parts for the car instead?"

"No... I'm good…" she said, slipping the shield onto her arm.

"Besides…" Scott began to say

"No."

"Come on… You'd be great."

"Great at what." Lincoln asked

"Being the boss." Scott said "Coulson has been trying to get her to take on a leadership role."

"Well, if you're anything like my Daisy, you should be great at it."

"You two are crazy…" She said walking back to the APC.

"Fair thee well…" Thor told them as they climbed into the truck. They drove down the hill and back over the grassy mall.

"Take on Thanos myself?" Thor muttered to himself. "Daft…"

"It's not the craziest thing" Hank Pym said standing next to Thor.

"You again…"

"Yes, us again, big guy…" Tony Stark said, putting his arm on Thor's shoulder. Still the young man Thor knew.

Thor was unsure whether these were the spirits of his deceased friends or simply his mind trying to cope with both the loss and the loneliness. Frankly, he no longer cared. He had a home to return to before it got cold again.

"You've spent almost thirty years beating yourself up over us" Pym said "Those kids are probably right. You're only unworthy because YOU think so."

"I had him. He yielded and in my stupidity, I stopped attacking. If I had a drop of sense, I'd have finished the job."

"That wasn't stupidity" Steve Rogers said "That was nobility. It was honor. Thanos had none."

Thor looked around again. The specters of his past were gone again.

"Honor…" Thor said to himself as he started walking back to where he'd made camp "What good has it done me?"

He didn't see his hammer twitch as his hand passed over it.


	12. Second Stop: Coming clean

Chapter 47

"We're going to need to get back across the river." Scott told them as they reached the bridge. "We can ether walk, or you guys can let me drive."

"Walk" the two said quickly.

"Fine…"

"You never got around to telling me what happened after I… died" Lincoln said.

"It was… hard." Daisy admitted "I…"

"She went off the deep end." Scott interrupted.

"I felt responsible… I ran away…" She continued.

"From?"

"Everything." She said.

"We had just been made legit again, two." Scott explained "Coulson, wanting to remain in the shadows, stepped down as director, partly to chase after Daisy."

"wait… are you telling me…"

"Yes, Director Johnson?" Lincoln asked with a stupid smile. Scott quickly joined in.

"God I wish you could have met the guy we got stuck with." Scott said.

"What was he like?"

"Think Michael Scott with super powers." Scott said

"Who?" They both asked

"_The Office_?" He looked at the two "Christ am I the only person who still watches TV?"

"Why is everything pop culture with you?" Daisy asked.

"It's how I see the world." Scott said followed by a low sigh. "Might as well come clean. Lincoln, could you give us a second?"

The other man nodded and stepped away.

I…I don't like to admit this," Scott said, sitting down on the hood of one of the crashed cars "but… when I was in the first grade, I was diagnosed with an extremely mild form of Asperger Syndrome."

"Which is what?"

"A… the doctors and my parents described it to me as a 'relative' of autism. I know that is a massive simplification, but that's usually the easiest way to explain it. It's there. I know it's there. I do my best to keep it under control, but sometimes… It's why I compare everything to movies and TV. It's why sometimes I don't know when to shut up."

"Scott… I…" she started to say

"I shared that under the 'Cards on the table' rule, but that is not to be mentioned to anyone, ever. I'm begging you. I don't want to be treated with kid gloves. I don't want people… I'm going to have enough problems when other people find out I'm an Inhuman, I don't want people thinking any less of me."

"I don't think any less of you." She said as she gave him a hug "You're braver than most of them will ever been anyway. Thanks for trusting me."

"God, I love you." He told her

"I love you two."

The two ran to catch up to Lincoln.

"I wonder how the other's got along without us."

They soon found out.

As they neared the hanger, they heard yelling. They saw Jemma running towards them

"OH THANK GOD!" She yelled, bear hugging Scott and Daisy before shrieking in fright at the sight of Lincoln.

"Sorry, forgot about you." She said, catching her breath.

"No problem…"

"what's the matter?" Daisy asked.

"I think its cabin fever. Fitz and Thawne are constantly arguing. Seven is showing signs of clinical depression, and Jas has had false labor twice. The only people with our heads on straight are myself and Barry and he's currently trying to prevent my husband and his new 'best friend' from killing each other. How was your day?"

"We met the local Thor." Scott said walking onto the plane "He gave us Captain America's shield."

Jemma just stood there for a moment perplexed before following them inside.

A few minutes later, the black jet hovered gracefully over the city, before vanishing in a bright blue light. And silence fell over the world, save for one lone man, once a god, watching.

"good luck…" He said to them quietly. "Still a daft prospect… But, then again… sometimes, daft just works."

Meanwhile….

"Hail Hydra. Hail Mistress." May said, saluting. Gone was the loyal CHIMERA member, the friend of Jas and her Daisy. In her place was a loyal slave to the goddess before her.

"Excellent work, my pet." Morse said to her look alike at her feet.

"I live to serve you, my Mistress." Kelly replied, playing with a strand of her hair

"Well it's time for your reward. Sara, Ava, please take dear sweet Kelly to processing and have her reset. Then send her home."

"Home? No! I want to stay. Please. I don't want to back! I was miserable after my husband divorced me! Mistress! Please!" She screamed as the two women in black carried her off.

Morse rose from her seat and walked toward May.

"You, Millie, are going to be all mine."

"I live to serve you, my mistress" May repeated

"No, call me Bobbi." Taking a crown she had on off "I want to pick up right where we left off." Morse said, kissing the other woman.


	13. Third Stop: A Hard Day's Night

Chapter 48

"That went better than normally." Daisy said as he the plane entered its next world.

"let's see where we are." Scott said "Gps is good… got a reading…, and we get… Los Angeles. Local time on this earth is… 3AM."

Scott found a large enough clearing atop a ridge in Griffith Park to set down. Most of the group went to sleep while Scott went to work fixing his car.

Around dawn, Daisy walked into the rear bay to find Scott sat on the ramp.

"What are you doing awake?' He asked.

"I got lonely…" she joked, sitting down next to him "how's it going?"

"Charger port is repaired; I'm almost done with the cloak. I wish fixing the engine on the plane was this easy. Any leads?"

"No Bobbi, no SHIELD, no Hydra, no purple eyed people."

"So why did they come here?"

"Maybe it was an accident?"

"Has anything here really been an accident? Everywhere we go we end up exactly where we need to be."

By the time the sun was full up, the others had awoken and joined them outside.

"So far this place seems to be on the up and up" Daisy told them "Best we can tell, it's not our objective, Bobbi was never born here. But she had to have come here for a reason. Scott and I are going to head into downtown now that we have a working set of wheels again. Barry, you can tag along if you'd like.

"Fitz, we haven't had a chance to look over our failed engine. See if you can get the professor here to help you."

The two men glared at each other.

"You" She said to her double "If you want my trust, keep them from fighting."

"Can do." Seven said

"Jemma, you keep an eye on Jas, make sure she's comfortable."

"that's what I've spend most of the last few days doing." Jemma said with a sigh

"Lincoln, you rest. You've had it rough."

"You sure you don't need my help?" Lincoln asked

"Not right now, but if we do, you'll know."

The group broke up and Scott stood there next to Daisy.

"See, that wasn't so hard. You don't need to be the leader, just know you're great it if the need comes."

"Please stop trying." She said as she started towards the car.

"OK. You're the boss…"

She turned back and glared at him.

"OK… fine…" he said as he followed.

"Surprised no one noticed us." Barry said as the three walked out of the alleyway they'd parked in.

"It's nice to be invisible…" Scott said hitting the key fob on the car and switching the cloak on.

They started down the street. "Never though I be this happy to see this many people" he joked before stopping in his tracks and looking up.

"Um?"

Barry stopped and looked in the direction Scott was looking

"No way…"

Daisy stopped and turned back around

"You two alright?"

Scott put his hand on her head and turned it, pointing it upwards towards the massive banner hanging from a building across the street.

"Daisy Johnson"

"The 'All I Want is You' Tour"

"Staples Center August 22-25"

To the one side was a massive photo of Daisy smiling. The other had her posing cutely.

"What the hell?" she said.

Daisy pulled out her phone and hopped on a nearby wifi signal, then goggled her name.

A YouTube video was the first hit. Daisy tapped play.

Her mouth fell open.

"I'm a pop star!?" She said as she watched herself dancing and singing on the screen.

"Oh MY GOD!" they heard someone shout behind them "There she is! It's DAISY!"

"Oh shit" Scott said, noticing a crowd of people looking at them. "Daisy… Barry… I'd say something funny right now, but.. fuck it, just run…" as a crowd of screaming teenagers started chasing after them.


	14. Third Stop: Hooray for North Hollywood

Chapter 49

"What is it with Angelinos and chasing you with cameras" Scott asked as the three rand down the sidewalk.

"Not now!" Daisy yelled as they rounded a corner into a bigger crowd, which also started screaming

"Oh crap." Daisy said, "This ways, come on." Said told the boys as she ran towards the entrance of a subway station.

The three ran down the stairs and jumped the turnstiles.

Scott stopped and turned around to see if they were being followed.

There was a tidal wave of humanity following them.

"Quick! On the train!" Scott called ahead.

"No one's going to see us down here, right?" Daisy asked as the doors closed and train pulled out of the station.

"Well, it's ether this or go back up into 'the running of the tweens?" Scott asked, panting for breath "I think Pamplona would be safer right now. You OK Barry?"

"Not used to not having my speed." He said, leaning over and gasping himself. "Forgot what it's like to be winded…"

"So do we wait, do we go back to the car? Or can you make it come to us?" Daisy asked Scott.

"Well, we're on a Red Line train; the end of the line is the other side of the hills in North Hollywood. We can wait there while the car comes to us. I don't think anyone is going to be looking for a major celebrity there."

"One can only hope."

After a while of riding, mostly with Daisy hiding in the corner, they walked back out into the sunshine of the San Fernando Valley.

"Hooray for North…awe damn it…" Scott said as they exited the station to a crowd of people coming from the buses parked nearby.

"I thought you said no one came here?" Barry asked.

"I said important people don't come this way" Scott said as the group tried to move out of the way of the crowds.

"Just get the car here…" Daisy said, ducking behind a palm tree. "God this is embarrassing. New rule, we google ourselves on each stop."

"Well well well, lookie what we have here?" A voice said

Hydra Bobbie was sitting on a bench across from them.

"Still sending holograms or are you actually gracing us with your presence…?" Scott asked scarcasticly.

"No, I'm a bit busy, would have loved to join you."

"Where's my wife?" Barry demanded.

"Oh, so you came along… interesting…" She said. "She's not been hurt. I'm not interested in hurting her. She's just insurance. Go home. Leave me alone and I won't ever hurt her. You won't get her back, but she'll be safe."

"You bitch!" Daisy screamed, stepping closing.

"Uh oh, you shouldn't have done that…" Morse teased.

The crowds suddenly stopped and looked at Daisy.

"Let's have some fun." Morse said with an evil smile "What do you guys say? I'll give you a 60 second head start before I post that you're here on the internet. Oh, and one more thing."

She snapped her fingers and Scott's phone immediately shut itself off.

The three started to exchange looks as Morse started counting.

"Time to go." Scott said, grabbing Daisy's hand.

They ran down the street, looking for a spot to hide.

"Now what?" Barry asked.

"I'm thinking… There!" Scott said.

"A ditch?"

"Come on!" Scott, yelled jumping the fence.

"It's one of LA's concrete rivers." Scott explained as they walked along the cutting. "This should get us heading back in the right direction."

"How did you know this was here?" Daisy asked.

"You goggled me; you tell me…"

"I didn't get that far…" She admitted.

"I lived out this way for a couple months after I got out of the academy in 2010. They assigned me to the LA field office and got me an apartment in Van Nuys. I used to pass this every day on the bus."

"See if you can get the others on your comm." Scott told Daisy.

"_Daisy?_" she heard Jemma answer

"Yeah, we've got a bit of a problem and we're gonna need help."

"_You're not going to believe what we found…_" Jemma said.

"Let me take… a _WILD_ guess…" She said.

"_On this Earth, you're a singer._"

"We know."

"_Oh, and Scott and Barry are wanted for kidnapping you._"

"WHAT?" Daisy yelled.


	15. Third Stop: Walking and talking

Chapter 50

Daisy screaming made Scott and Barry jump.

"_They haven't made it public, but the police are going nuts looking for you_." Jemma explained "_The local Daisy has been missing for a few days_."

"Why do they think Scott and Barry kidnapped me?"

"_It's all they've got to work on_."

"Right… Look, we saw Evil Bobbi again, she zapped Scott's phone. He can't control the car or the Zephyr."

"_Hang tight, we'll get it then come get you._"

"So… what's the matter?" Barry asked

"The cops think you two kidnapped me."

"Oh sweet Jesus…" Scott complained, hitting his head against the wall. "Could this… no.. I'm not gonna say it."

A police siren soon echoed down from the street.

"I should just keep my mouth shut." Scott said. "Come on, into the underpass."

"So we're just going to stand around in ankle deep lord knows what with the LAPD hot on our tails." Barry said "Fun times."

"We'll get her back." Scott said to him. "And this is just rain water… mostly" as a burger wrapper floated past.

They kept moving south, back towards the Los Angeles River. The long trek made time feel like it was moving at a snail's pace.

"So…" Barry began "How did you two meet?"

"We're really doing this?"

"Well, better than what I was about to suggest," Daisy said "Six degrees of Kevin Bacon."

"Fine." He huffed

"It was five years ago." Scott began "Daisy, who was calling herself Skye at that point, had recently been picked up by SHIELD. I was working at a SHIELD central complex called 'The Hub' as a technician. The team was visiting because upper management wanted to borrow two members, Fitz and guy named Grant Ward, who we later found out was a sociopath, but that's not relevant.

"I was coming off my lunch break with some of my co-workers when I saw her. She was pinned to the wall by a bracelet Coulson had put on her to keep her in line."

"In line?"

"I wasn't that on board with SHIELD at that point" Diasy explained. "I was constantly hacking into things I shouldn't have. I was looking for who I was.

"Coulson took pity on me when the truth came out, and kept me on so long as I wore the braclet, which shut down any tech I wasn't supposed to be using. I tried to enter a door I shouldn't have and I got stuck."

"I was gonna go over to help" Scott continued "The others were encouraging me to go talk to her. She was yelling and screaming. But then one of the senior agents called us to fix something and I never got the chance to say hi.

"A few months later, SHIELD nearly collapsed. What few of us remained were scattered to the four winds. We went dark. Many retired or surrendered to the government. I was lucky enough to get picked up by a few guys. We eventually met up with the former director of SHIELD, Nick Fury. He was bringing us to one of his bases when we got a distress call, Fitz and Simmons, stuck at the bottom of the ocean.

"Once everything was settled, Fury turned SHIELD over to Coulson. And we finally got to meet face to face. I was trying to eat and she sat down next to me. I nearly choked on my Frosted Flakes. Time went by, we became friendly, I got to know her and the others. But I kept my distance. I thought I was a freak. I didn't know about what I was and the fact I could move objects with my mind made me scared. Then she got her powers and I realized how much of an asset I could be. But then things went up and down faster than a roller coaster. One second everything is working fine, the next, the agency is holding on by a thread.

"Then came my big break. I worked up the confidence to tell Coulson the truth in confidence about my powers and my history. When MI6 called and said my cousin was missing, I got sent to find him. Wind up having to be saved by Daisy, only for me to have to save her. That's when I showed her what I could do.

"We get back to the US, go to a bar for drinks, when we hear a commotion outside… Next thing ether of us knows, its three days later and we're having sex."

"Wow…" Barry said, slightly amazed.

"And that was the short version…." Daisy said.

A little while later, Daisy's com came on with a call from Jemma

"_We've got the car, we'll meet you guys in a few minute_s."

"Great…" Daisy said as they reached a slight obstacle. The point where the channel they were walking in met the river was a sheer wall.

"How far is that drop?" Barry asked.

"Doesn't look too bad" Daisy said, stepping off the ledge and firing off her powers to lower herself to the ground.

"Cheater…" Scott huffed

"There's a few exits over here." Daisy said pointing.

"Barry, hold still." Scott said, holding his hand out.

Barry's feet left the ground and Scott gently lowered him down.

"How are you gonna get down?" Daisy asked

Scott suddenly leapt off the edge right at her. She instinctively raised her hands and used her powers to slow his fall.

"You could have asked…" She said.

They climbed up the exit ramp, breaking open a gate.

"We should be right by… Universal Studios." Scott said as he heard screaming.

"Great… right back where we started."

Suddenly, Scott's car rolled up in front of them

Fit opened the door and climbed out "Come with me if you want to live" he said as they jumped in.

"They closed that ride six years ago..."


	16. Third Stop: It's Your Move

Chapter 51

"Land on an earth where my girlfriend is practically Taylor Swift…" Scott said looking over the magazines Jemma had bought as souvenirs.

"Who's…" Seven started "never mind, you can explain it later"

"See, you're learning." Jas said with a sarcastic smile as she walked past.

"UGH! Why are there so many pictures of me with Logan Paul?" Daisy asked, flipping through her alternate self's Instagram.

"You two dated for a few months" Jemma said.

Daisy's made a face "Ew, really?"

"Well, he's a bit more of a respected commentator here." Scott said, reading off his computer "More 'The Angry Video Game Nerd' or the 'Nostalgia Critic" than whatever BS he does back home. It ended about a month ago, with you two in a restaurant. You ordered the most expensive wine on the menu, took one sip, then smashed him over the head with the bottle and walked out. No one knows why."

"Go me, I guess" She said. "How am I a singer? I can't even keep a tune."

Scott pointed over his shoulder at Seven reading one of the magazines "Like I said, beauty of the concept. If you can dream it, it's out there somewhere."

"Whatcha reading?" Daisy asked Seven, yanking the magazine out of her hands. "Relationship advice?"

"Can you blame me for trying?"

Daisy handed her look-alike back what she'd been reading.

"What are our options?" she asked.

"We need another six hours and change before we can make another jump" Thawne said. "These machines seem to have developed minds of their own."

Daisy turned to Fitz "I thought you said it was nineteen hours from the jump TO the dead world for the other machine to be ready."

"I was wrong…."

"Wrong?"

"I used a formula based on the jump from Skye's world to Barry's." Fitz said "It would seem that not all jumps are made equal and having two machines in close proximity..."

"So what you're saying is" Scott said, putting his hand up to get Fitz to stop talking "…We don't exactly know what it takes to make these machines jump."

"Might as well get some rest."

"You two get anything on the engines?" Scott asked Fitz and Thawne

"Given how primitive even your technology is compared to mine, I was able to quickly come to a conclusion…" Thawne began.

"There is no reason that thing should not be running, something is seriously wrong."

"That's it?"

"I'm a scientist, not a grease monkey…"

"1950s slang, not 2010s…"

A few hours later.

"Daisy? You still awake?" Scott asked as they lay together in their bunk.

"Yeah." She rolled over to face him "What's the matter?"

"I can't help but think someone is watching us." He said "Ever since that light. Hell, they could be watching us right now."

'Who would anyone want to watch two people… Never mind…"

She slid closer to him till they were face to face.

"Let's not think about those things right now" she said nuzzling him "Get some sleep, or I'm gonna try to sing 'Mystery Date."

"Can't sing if you can't use your mouth." He said, kissing her.

Outside, Seven sat on her cot the floor. Fitz had just woken her up for her shift on watch. She sat there looking at the door to the bedroom where Jas was asleep.

"Why…" she said quietly "Why do I love you so much? You're everything I'm supposed to be against but there is nothing in the world I wouldn't give to see you happy…"

She got up and quietly stepped out of the plane into the cool, nighttime air.

Seven found a rock near the edge of the hill, looking down at the city below.

"I probably don't have much time left before I lose my mind." She said, "I guess I shouldn't waste it."

She reached into her pocket and pulled out her, or Skye's, wallet and pulled out a picture of Jas kept in a special compartment. She sat there and stared at it.

"There you are!" She heard a voice yell.

"Oh fuck!" she screamed, jumping from the sudden presences of another person.

"You're a hard woman to find Ms. Johnson. Everyone's been looking for you. Are you alright?" The man said walking towards her. He was a tall thin, African American man with dark glasses in a grey suit.

"Who the hell are you?"

"Now, now… I know I've only been working your division for a few months, but you could at least bother to remember my name… Paul Carter?"

"what do you want?" She asked.

"It's your move…"

She stood there.

"What?"

"I'm with CHESSBOARD. Are you, high or something?"

"Excuse me?"

"Look, just come with me, we've got work to do." He said, pulling her hand "and by 'we' I mean you."

"Let go of me." She yelled. On instinct she raised her arm to use her powers on him, but forgot she still had the inhibitor on.

She then went for plan B as he grabbed her hand.

"HELP!" she screamed at the top of her lungs. "SCOTT! DAISY! HELP!"

"What's the matter with you? The Board needs its Queen." He asked as he dragged her down the hill.

Mr. Carter heard a click behind him

"Alright pal, I'm giving you to the count of three to let the girl go." Scott said, gun pointed at the man's head.

"Who the hell are you?"

"Nobody. Now let go of her." Scott ordered

"You don't have any clue who you're messing with."

"Neither do you." Daisy said, stepping around

"Agent Johnson? The man asked looking at both young women "How… But…"

"Suffice to say things just got more complicated." A voice said in the distance.

"Oh shit" Mr. Carter said

A woman walked up the hill, flanked by two taller men in suits and followed by people in combat gear with a chess pawn drawn on their chest armor.

"I'm 'King', the leader of Chessboard" She said.

"Can we just call you Natasha Romanoff?" Scott asked.

Meanwhile

May was wandering around her mistress's base of operations when she heard yelling down a side corridor. It was strange, because it wasn't the yelling of passion. It was the yelling of rage.

"When I get out of this, I'm gonna snap her neck." A voice, a woman's, echoed down the hall.

"Calm down" A second voice, a male responded. "I'm sure Wally's gotten help and they're looking for us as we speak.

"I don't know. I've never heard of this 'Hydra' bunch" a third voice, also male, added "We might be beyond their reach."

May peaked around the corner into the room. The three who'd been speaking were chained to the wall by thick irons. One of the men had a strange collar around his neck. The woman was wearing a fancy dress like the others but was obviously nether a member of the menagerie or a soldier. Because May could tell she was unhappy.

"Hello? Do you three serve mistress?" May asked of the three.

"You can kinda say that…" The woman said, fighting with her chains.

"Zari, you're just gonna hurt yourself." The taller man said. "I'm Ray, that's Zari and over there is Nate. We're waiting for our friends to find us so we can kick your boss's ass and get our captain back."

"She's not my boss. She's my mistress." May said. "I love her."

"No talking to them, my lady. Mistress' orders" Sara said, entering. "They are simply here to complete mistress' plan."

"What's that?

"Why, the plan for your resurrection, of course."

"Sara?" Ray asked.

"Hello Ray. Hello Nate. Hello Zari. Now all of you get back to work." She said, pressing a button on her uniform that sent electrical shocks through the three.

"Follow me, my lady." Sara said to May, leaving the three Legends lying in pain.

"Do you know them?" May asked.

"I used to be their leader, until Mistress showed me a whole new way to look at the world. The Mistress' pleasure justifies my obedience."


	17. Third Stop: Nighthawks

Chapter 52

"How do you know my real name?" Natasha Romanoff asked, shocked. No one knew her real name not even the people she was close to.

"It's a long story, what do you need the girl for?" Scott asked

"Daisy Johnson is one of our best agents… She's been missing the past few days. Why did you take her? What did you do to her?"

"That part we know." Scott said. "We've done nothing to your Daisy because neither of these are your Daisy. We're from another reality"

"Prove it."

"Shouldn't these two count for anything?"

"They could be AMD"

"AMD?"

"Autonomous Mechanical Duplicate." Carter said

Romanoff shot him a look.

"Go wait in the car, Paul…"

"Yes ma'am…" he said, disappointedly walking off.

"We've only been here a day. If you want to examine the flight logs of my plane, you are more than welcome to."

"So, let's say I believe you. What are you doing here?"

"We're looking for two people who were kidnapped." Daisy said.

"Maybe we should talk" Romanoff said, "Follow me."

"Someone really wanted your name to spell out SHIELD" Romanoff said as they sat in the diner. Scott and Daisy had told the woman everything about themselves.

"You would not believe how often we've heard that one…" Scott said. "It stopped being funny a long time ago."

"We're trying to locate this woman" Daisy said, producing a photo of Bobbi Morse from her phone. Nevermind it was of agent Morse she knew, they looked the same.

"I recognize her alright…" Romanoff said "She was the last person I saw near my Daisy."

"Great… our first lead in days." Scott said to Daisy "What do you know about her?"

"Not much" Romanoff said flatly, "Other than she stole my best agent…" Romanoff stopped and took a deep breath "and my… new… girlfriend…"

"OK…" Daisy said uncomfortably "you two are a couple?"

Romanoff nodded "You've got a problem with that?" she asked with a bit of a tone.

"I don't, but…"

She turned to Scott.

"If ANY of this gets back to Sam or Billy…"

Scott made the "my lips are sealed" motion and they turned back to Romanoff.

"I told you I never read them…" Scott said

"What was that all about?"

"Even longer story" Scott said

Please continue" Daisy added.

"We'd only started dating a month ago. I'd just divorced my second husband; she'd just broken up with that Youtuber.

"We were at a party, one of those stupid sponsored event things. The world knows me as Natalie Romans, a fashion model, no one, not even my Daisy, knows my real name. We were at the bar, I turn my back for two seconds to place a drink order and when I turn back, there's this blonde leading Daisy towards the restrooms. So I follow and when I get there, nothing. Gone…

"We went over the security cameras. She came out of the ladies room, waited till my back was turned, and then lead Daisy into the ladies room and never came out."

"No windows or other openings?" Daisy asked

"No. we checked and triple checked."

"Then I'm sorry to say, but your Daisy is probably with May and Iris." Scott told her.

"Then I'm going to need your help." Romanoff said, looking at Daisy.

"We're kinda in a spot here…" Daisy said "We're racing a clock we can't see."

"Aren't we all..."

"What she means is aside from the missing people, there is someone out there who's been watching us and planned to attack us. It's what got us started on this ride in the first place."

"It's just a couple of hours. You make an appearance with me, everyone sees Daisy is fine and you can go on your merry way."

"You're asking me to be your date…" Daisy said flatly

"I need you to help me. People are already asking questions." She said with some panic in her voice "Daisy is one of the biggest stars in the world. People are going to wonder what happened to her, and they are going the trace it back to us."

Scott and Daisy looked at each other.

"There has to be something you guys need? Something we can do for you?"

"We've got an idea…" Daisy said.

"You're leaving me here?" Seven asked

"No… We're leaving you with Romanoff," Scott explained "we jump to the next world, check it out, and then come back for you. You'll love it. You saw how hot she is. Hell, you might not want to leave."

"Don't I get a vote in this? I mean… what if you don't come back?"

"Well, you get to live the life of a rich and famous person." Daisy said

"What about Jas?"

"What about her?"

"I… I don't want to leave her alone."

"She won't be alone, she's got us." Scott replied.

Seven tensed up and said "No, you idiot. I don't want to be apart from her. I _need_ her. I don't care if she doesn't love me, I love her. And have you run this past her? Does she want to lose the last thing she has of her Daisy?"

Scott and Daisy looked at each other.

"Fine, we'll talk to the others" Daisy said.

Meanwhile….

"I've been saving these." Morse said as she walked into the bedroom. Both she and May were dressed in bridal gowns. "Wedding night sex is the best."

"Yes, it is, my Mistress." May said.

"I told you to stop calling me that."

"Mistress, do I offend you?"

"No... I just don't like it when you call me that." Morse said, taking May's hands.

"But Mistress, I am not worthy of such honor."

"Millie, please. Call me Bobbi…"

"Yes.,, Mistress Bobbi."

"I guess that'll have to do for now." Morse said.

She sat on the end of her bed and pulled May towards her.

"Get over here," She told May "Your mistress wishes to be worshiped."

"Your body is my altar." May said, embracing her, and kissing her.


	18. Third Stop: Quack

Chapter 53

Daisy stood before the others.

"So, that's where we stand. We help these chess people; they give us a new engine for the plane."

"So you're trying Gonzales' method of doing things?" Fitz asked

"I'm not sold on this plan and it was my idea…" Daisy said "Besides, I'm not in charge. I don't have the right to tell you what to do."

"You've been acting like a leader." Jemma said.

"Don't start. I'm not leadership material. If anyone here is in charge, it's Scott."

"Why me? Jemma and Fitz are older than me."

"Only by a few months and you're the pilot."

"Since when did that count for anything?" He said "Tell you what, let's put it to a vote. All in favor of making Daisy team captain?" he said raising his hand.

"Put that down." She said, pulling his arm down.

"OK fine…" he said, "Temporary captain?"

"SCOTT…"

"OK, you win, I'll drop it."

"Going back to the original subject..." Barry began "I think we should stay here and get this over with. Going there and coming back will only waste time and jumps."

"Well, that's surprising, coming from you." Thawne said.

"This will only take, what, a few hours? Who knows how long it would take if we backtracked?"

"OK then." Daisy said, "It's settled."

A few minutes later, the team met up with Romanoff at the bottom of the hill.

"She can _not_ go dressed in that?" Romanoff said, looking at Seven's clothes. SHIELD t-shirt and jeans.

"What are you expecting?" Scott asked. "We didn't exactly pack our tops and tails..."

"I did figure it might be necessary to bring some of my Daisy's clothes. They're in the car, you can go change in there."

"So, we go do this, your folks install the new engine. Where is it?" Daisy asked as she watched the car bounce and thump as Seven tried to change in the backseat.

"It will be here soon, I've got my best men coming to take care of everything."

"Fine." Scott said as the Mustang-Tesla rolled out of the rear of the plane.

"What's that for?"

"We're coming with you." Daisy said, "We'll stay out of sight, but we're not letting her go alone."

Romanoff let ought a sigh but allowed them to follow.

The party was at a rooftop bar downtown. Scott and Daisy set up shop on a nearby roof, Scott having brought the rile they'd stolen several days before and fitted it with a scope. Daisy had brought along the Captain America's shield the alternate Thor had given them.

"I think it suits you." Scott said as he got down on the edge of the roof.

"Stop trying."

"I thought girls like it when guys give them compliments."

"Digging yourself deeper…"  
"Alright, I'll shut up." He said, "And I was talking about you and that shield."

"Do you guys always act like this on a mission?" Paul asked

"Kills the tension. It's 3AM and we're all exhausted."

"Well can you be quiet please?"

"Sure…"

"Here they come." Carter said over the radio.

Romanoff and Seven stepped out onto the party floor to gasps and screams.

Seven looked almost like a different person. For one thing, she was smiling. For a split second both Daisy and Scott wondered if Skye was back in control.

"Daisy! Oh I'm so glad you're alright." One girl said running up.

"Seven, remember when you asked who Taylor Swift is? You're talking to her." Daisy told her look alike over the radio.

"Taylor…" Seven said "Hi there… I'm fine. Thanks, I just felt like wandering. Nothing major. How are you doing?"

"I'm great. You take care and don't go wandering off again. You scared a lot of people" Taylor said, walking back to her squad.

"You ok Seven?" Scott asked.

"Wow… she's gorgeous."

"Focus." Romanoff whispered in Seven's ear "You're supposed to be my girlfriend, remember?"

Celebrity after celebrity came over to talk to Seven.

"We should have brought coffee…" Daisy said as Scott was explain over the radio who Justin Bieber was "This is gonna take a while."

"You were right." Morse said to the woman sitting in the lounge. She looked back inside at the sleeping May.

"Have I ever steered you wrong in all the time I've known you?"

"How's your other little project going?"

"Wonderfully, actually, thanks to you. This one and her organization was a thorn in our side."

"Here's your payment." Morse said, handing the other woman a large case.

"This is nearly twice the agreed amount."

"You could tell?"

"Bobbi, I've worked around this stuff all my life. I know how much 15 kilos should feel."

"I was feeling generous. She's exactly like my Millie. When SHIELD had her executed, I never thought I'd love again. I'd kept our wedding dresses on stands in my closet as a memorial to a dream. I'd never thought I'd get to wear them. I owe you so much, Mysiri."

"What are friends for?" the other woman said, with a wink of her purple eyes. "Are you still going through with the plan?"

"I'm torn." Morse admitted "This Millie only loves me because I forced her to. Like all the others. My Millie loved me for me. I'm not sure anymore."

"Is that doubt I hear?"

"More wonder. Is going through all this trouble still worth it? I've got her."

"What happens if the spell is broken? If the gemstone on your crown is taken from you?"

"This little rock?" Morse asked, pointing to the tiara she was wearing.

"That little rock is an Infinity Stone, my dear" Mysiri said "Specifically, the Mind Stone. It only works here. If May were to leave this earth, its effects on her would fade and she would remember everything.

"Do you want to see Hydra victorious?" Mysiri asked

"Of course, I live for Hydra." Morse said, slightly insulted at the insinuation.

Mysiri stood and put her hand on Morse's shoulder "Then get back a willing partner, not a puppet on a string."

Morse nodded.

"I'm sorry to have to run, but I have something important to take care of" Mysiri said.


	19. Third Stop: it was so much fun last time

Chapter 54

Seven and Romanoff had spent over an hour chatting with the various people at the party.

"It's 4:45…" Scott moaned "Don't these people ever sleep?"

Daisy's phone suddenly buzzed.

"That shouldn't work…"

She pulled it out to find a text message from an unknown source.

"Do not read out loud. Situation compromised. Chessboard not to be trusted. Make a run for it."

"Radio check. Seven, give me a wave." Scott said at the same time.

She didn't move.

"Seven? Seven can you hear me? King? Anyone on this frequency?"

"I think my radio is busted. Can you hear me?" Scott said to Daisy, still looking through the scope. He saw Romanoff put her hand to her ear.

"What's their problem?" Scott said when a bullet whizzed past him. "OK… ABORT…"

"Truck's here" Lincoln said as a large box truck pulled up outside the plane.

"Let's see what we've got." Fitz began to say as the door on the truck burst open.

Dozens of armed men burst out. Before they could react, the Chessboard troops were in the cabin training their guns on the team.

"King, this is third squad." One of them said "We've secured the objective."

"Why are they shooting at us?" Scott asked, pressed low to the ground.

Daisy showed him the message.

"Why is nothing ever easy?"

"Get behind me and stay low" Daisy said, holding up her new toy.

A few shots bounced off the shield as the two slowly worked their way back inside the building.

"We've got trouble" Romanoff told Seven "We need to leave."

"Sorry folks, we need our rest before someone's big week." Romanoff said loudly "Come on sweetheart, let's get you home."

"Can you get the others on the comm?" Scott asked as the two ran down the stairs "I've got nothing."

"Jemma? Fitz? Anyone?" Daisy asked with her finger to her ear. She shook her head no when she got no reply.

"Up there!" They heard someone yell followed by gun shots shooting up the stairwell.

Any bright ideas?" He asked.

"One" she said handing him the shield. "Hold on tight."

She grabbed onto the handrail of the stairs and triggered her vibrations.

"Earthquake!" they heard the men yelled. "Everyone out!"

"Can not believe they fell for that…" Scott said as they started back down. "You OK?"

"Yeah, I'm starting to wear down the gauntlets I think" She said "that hurt more than usual."

They exited the building to find two chessmen standing guard near the car.

"I want to try something." She said.

Daisy took the shield back and gave a hard windup, letting the disk fly…

It fell a few feet short and skidded to a halt at the feet of the two guards.

"Oh hell…" Daisy said, quaking the two to the ground.

"If anyone asks, I'll tell them that was the plan all along." Scott said, as he hopped into the car. Daisy grabbed the shield and jumped in as he backed up towards her.

"We've got company, again" Daisy said as she saw the black Chessboard cars chasing after them.

"On it" He said, flicking the cloak on.

He quickly turned down a side street, only for the black cars to follow.

Scott began to weave wildly around through the early morning traffic.

"God, where's Reyes when you need him?" He muttered after nearly crashing into a bus.

"How are they following us?"

"How should I know." He said "Well, if I can't lose them with fancy driving, might as well try something else."

"We're not doing that battery drain trick again."

"Wasn't suggesting it. We just need a straight, empty section of road."

Romanoff's people lead the two back to her car.

"What's the problem?" Seven asked

"We were compromised." The older woman said. "I'm sorry. They weren't supposed to leave that rooftop. They we're even supposed to leave the plane…. Alive."

"You… You killed them?"

"No. Fortunately for you they got away." Romanoff said, pointing her gun at Seven. "This, sadly, is unfortunate for me. Either way, I have an agreement to fulfill which involves you."

"They still on us?" Scott asked as they found an empty stretch of Sunset Blvd.

Daisy looked over he shoulder "Yep"

"I've got an idea." Scott said, lowering Daisy's window. "Blast them."

Scott put the car into a slide so that Daisy's window was pointing at them, which allowed their pursuers to get closer. She stuck her hand out and basted the cars, sending them flying.

Scott stopped the car and the pair jumped out. They noticed Paul climbing out of one of the cars.

"Hi there Paul, old buddy, old pal." Scott said, pinning the man to a nearby building with his powers.

"Please. I have a wife and kids. I was just following orders."

"That old chestnut…" Daisy said, "Where's your boss?"

"Belmont Tunnel. We have a safe house down there. Please let me go!"

Scott responded by slamming him back to the ground, knocking him out.

"Should we take his radio?" Scott asked

"It might have a tracker." Daisy said, "not sure it's worth it."

"Where did he say they were going?" Daisy asked as they got back in the car.

"A tunnel, built for the old Pacific Electric Red Cars from Westlake into downtown."

"And you know about it because?"

"A game I have called 'L.A. Noir.' The entrance isn't that far from here."

"I did what you asked!" Romanoff cried to the woman standing before her "now give her back!"

"Sorry, no."

"No? What do you mean 'No'?"

Scott kicked down the door, he and Daisy ran in.

"Oh thank God!" Seven cried "Help! That's her! Purple Eyed Lady!"

The other woman turned and looked at Scott and Daisy.

"Part of the deal was I asked you to get rid of those two." Mysiri said "And you failed."

"I'll just do it now." Romanoff said, pointing her gun at the pair as her troops followed suit.


	20. Third Stop: Flashpoint

Chapter 55

It was at this point the two realized how much trouble they were in. The room was filled with twenty-five Chessboard tactical agents and ten of the people in the black suits. All with guns and all pointed at them. Two more of the black suits were holding onto Seven. The two grabbed hand ready to fight back when two streaks of light zoomed into the room. Suddenly Scott and Daisy found themselves back outside the tunnel.

"What the? Barry? Thawne?" Scott asked.

Instead of their two traveling companions, there was a young woman tending to an older man who was bent over. They were both wearing suits similar to Barry's but didn't cover their heads.

"Talk to me Jay, you alright?" She asked him.

"Yeah, yeah I'm fine." He said, shaking off whatever was harming him.

"What just happened?" Daisy asked

"I'm Jessie Wells, you met my dad." The girl said, taking a domino mask off "This is Jay Garrick. We're friends of Barry and the others."

"How did you find us?" Scott asked.

"This." Jay said, handing Scott a note.

"_After using the devices, go to the Belmont tunnel in Los Angeles at 5:14 AM_."

"This is my handwriting…" Scott said

"You didn't send it?"

Scott shook his head.

"I found it in a box with this." Jessie said, touching a device on her chest.

"We thought they were Tachyon Accelerators" Jay said "But, they're more. They're like… batteries. For Speed Force energy."

"Makes sense. Barry and Thawne lost their speed the moment we left your little cluster of realties."

"Our..?"

"We're outside the 53 worlds you're used to. Given what we've seen, we're more back in our cluster."

The two looked puzzled "What are you talking about?"

"I'll explain later. The others might be in trouble." Scott said "We need to get to them."

"Where are they?"

"Up in the hills."

"What about Seven?" Daisy asked the two speedsters "The girl the looks like me? The one still in inside"

"We tried to pry her free, but nothing happened?" Jay admitted

"There has to be something off with our different vibrational patterns." Jessie said "We noticed we can't phase through matter here."

"Seven will have to wait." Scott said "Much as I've come to hate to say it, but our priority needs to be the others on the plane. Barry is up there with them."

Jay and Jessie grabbed the two and within an instant the four were standing a few hundred feet from _Zephyr Zero_.

Scott ordered the car to return to the Zephyr on its own while they dealt with Romanoff's people.

"How much of a charge do those things have left?" Daisy asked the two speedsters.

"Don't know." Jay said "They didn't actually come with instructions."

"Well, from what I've watched Barry do, you guys should be able to take them out if you rush them."

At that, the two devices suddenly turned off and fell off Jessie and Jay's suits.

"Well then. Plan B it is…"

"I'm disappointed in you." Mysiri said as she placed a device on the restrained Seven that caused her to fall unconscious.

"I've never failed in my missions" Romanoff said "I SWEAR I'll get them. I wasn't expecting them to have other abnormal helping them."

"For the sake of your lover, I hope so." Mysiri said as her guards carried the unconscious woman away, down a small side tunnel.

Romanoff grabbed Mysiri's arm.

"Please, just tell me if she's OK."

"She won't be getting that surgery until you do what you promised." Mysiri said, wrenching her arm free.

"Where do go? There's nothing down there." Romanoff asked.

"You humans and your limited understanding…" Mysiri said under her breath as she followed.

"Pull up all known countermeasures for speed based abnormal." Romanoff told her people as she got into her car "What's the status of the strike team in the park?"

"Still holding the others, Ma'am."

"Send two more response teams up there. Get everyone up and moving. We need everyone in on this."


	21. Third Stop: A Breakdown of Negotiations

Chapter 56

"Mr. Carter… You're lying down on the job" Romanoff said as the man regained consciousness.

"King…" he groaned "They're abnormals…"

"I know" she said. She turned back to her other agents "Someone get Carter an in ambulance, please?"

"We tried. The others? What about the others?"

"They were all killed in the crash."

"We need to stop them."

"I know, Paul." She said as paramedics started treating him.

Romanoff walked up to a van her people had brought to the scene where her private crime scene techs were working.

"Do we know what caused the damage?" She asked one of them at a computer.

"Yes… unfortunately."

The man turned his screen so she could see

"We pulled this from the dash cams of one of the wrecked cars."

Romanoff watched the video of Daisy wrecking the cars with her powers.

"I'm sorry, Ma'am. I know this is hard to watch."

"I knew those two were freaks of nature. I never wanted to have to see it."

"Does that mean that our Agent Johnson is…?"

"Don't you dare say it" Romanoff said, enraged. "delete the footage."

"Ma'am"

"I said delete it. Tell anyone who asks that the man driving did it."

"Ma'am, with all due respect, you know the rules as well as any of us…"

"Unless you want to suddenly want a bullet hole between your eyes, you will keep your mouth SHUT!"

She said as she walked out.

"Anyone got any ideas?" Daisy asked peering around the large boulder the four were hidden behind.

"We don't even know what's going on" Jay said

"Barry and our friends are probably in there at gunpoint." Scott said "… I might have something, but it's going to be risky…" He said, handing Daisy his phone.

The men guarding the road were surprised when they saw Scott walking up to them with his hands in the air.

"Don't shoot, I surrender! Just let them go!"

"Contact King for instructions" the team leader told one of his men.

Romanoff was walking back to her car when one of her aids ran up.

"Director! We've got contact from team three; they've found one of the targets. They want to know what to do."

"Which target?"

"The man, the one called Riley."

She stood still for a second

"Kill him."

The Chessboard troops raised their guns at Scott.

"Look, just lets the others go and I'll come quietly."

Suddenly, the plane's gun turret popped out and fired at the ground behind them, the force of the blast knocking them down.

Daisy, Jay and Jessie ran up the ramp from behind the plane, having circled around while the guards were distracted. She knocked down two of the guards holding the others in the main cabin with her quake blasts. Lincoln used the opportunity to shock two more, with Jemma finishing off the last with a frying pan to the face.

"Chessboard is working with the Purpled eyed lady." Daisy told them a she ran in. "Everyone OK?"

"Not so worse for the wear." Fitz said "Who are these two?" He asked, pointing at Jay and Jessie

Barry asked in shock "How did you guys get here?"

"We're not exactly sure ourselves."

Scott ran up the ramp and motioned to Daisy, who threw him his phone back. He pressed an app on the screen and the camera revealed the cloaked presence of his car working its way back to them.

"So it turns out this entire operation has been some kind of set up" Daisy finished explaining after a few minutes. She walked over to where Jas was sitting.

"I'm sorry…" She told her "They took Seven, and gave her to the purple eyed lady. There was nothing we could do to stop them."

Jas broke down crying.

"Oh God again?" she screamed. Daisy tried to hug but Jas just shoved her away.

"Jas, we're going to get her back. We swear."

"That's all you people do is make promises!" Jas screamed "You've cost me first my dearest friend and now my WIFE."

"I thought you said she wasn't your wife."

"My Daisy is still inside her." Jas said "I know she's in there somewhere and I almost had her back, but you send her off on a mission without telling me and now she's god only knows where.

Scott heard his car load itself into the rear bay and the ramp rise and lock.

"Let's get out of here before things get any worse." Scott said

"It's a little late for that" Romanoff said, stepping into the cabin with a high tech looking rifle in her arms. "Agent Riley, you really need to work on perimeter security and not leaving your car door unlocked.

"You've got a lot of nerve showing up here." Barry said.

"People like you… You're just too dangerous." Romanoff said, still aiming her gun at Daisy.. "You are a threat. A threat that needs to be eliminated for the greater good."

"Because we're different?" Daisy asked

"Oh, right… that little, what was the term you used when you beat Mr. Carter? 'Chestnut…" She said with a slight laugh "There's a difference between people having different skin color or liking someone of the same gender and watching a 3rd grader lift a city bus." Romanoff said with an angry tone. "Your 'enhancements' make you weapons. They make you freaks. You KILLED over a dozen of my best men! Carter is on his way to the ICU, if he's lucky."

"You're right. We're weapons." Scott said "But that doesn't give you the right to kill someone who hasn't done anything.

"People like us are dangerous, there is no denying that. We have to live with that fact every day. But, unlike that gun you're carrying, we CHOOSE to use our abilities, with certain exceptions" he shot a look in Thawne's direction "To help. To save lives. We don't WANT to hurt anyone. We might be weapons, but we each have a conscience, we CHOOSE to be good people."

Scott stepped closer and leaned forward so the two were face to face.

"Right now, there is nothing more that I want other than to beat the ever-loving crap out of you for the shit you've pulled. But I'm not going to, because it's wrong. If you have an ounce of human decency left in you, you'll put that gun down right now."

Romanoff pointed the rifle square at his chest and pulled the trigger.


	22. Third Stop: Because we care

Chapter 57

Nothing happened.

She tried again and again, but the gun wouldn't fire.

"Stupid alien piece of crap" she yelled, throwing it to the floor. The moment it stuck the deck, it went off, blasting a hole in the couch.

Barry dived on it before Romanoff could reach for it. Scott flicked his wrist and she found herself flung against the wall.

"Right… Forgot you could do that." She said "But it doesn't matter. I've always been ready to die to complete my mission."

"Oh will you shut up." Jemma said, pulling out a hidden ICER and shooting her with it.

"Did not expect that from you?" Daisy said

"Well, I wanted to be the hero for a change."

"She's probably got reinforcements right behind her." Daisy said.

"Then let's get the fuck out of here." Scott said, running to the controls

Daisy joined him once they were airborne

"Are we going to bring her with us?" She asked

"No, we'll dump her off somewhere."

"Got anything in particular in mind?"

"Do some digging. Let's find someplace she wouldn't like at all."

"Oooh… That sound devious." She said, sitting down and flipping open a laptop

"Ex-husband's backyard?"

"Nah, she'll just pin the blame on him. And that assumes he has a back yard we could dump her on."

Daisy's fingers did their digital magic "I think I've got something…" she said, pointing to the screen. "perfect." Scott said. He set the autopilot.

Romanoff awoke from the ICER shot to find Scott sitting across from her on a chair, the others scattered around the room watching.

"I'm not dead?"

"Stun gun" Scott explained "Speaking of, I'm keeping your little toy."

Scott handed her a glass

"Don't worry it's just water."

"Why are you being so kind to me?" she asked after taking a sip "You've had every chance to kill me but…"

"Well, as the good book doeth say… 'do unto others as you would have them do unto you…' Maybe you will realize that not everyone who can leap a wall the way a track star leaps hurdles is out to get you and maybe, just maybe, you'd reconsider automatically hunting folks like me."

"I guess I owe Agent Paul an apology."

"I think he owes you one. He sang like a canary the moment I asked where you were."

"No, not Paul Carter. Logan Paul."

"He was one of your agents as well as Daisy's boyfriend?"

She nodded

"Daisy and Logan were a crack team together, the best agents I've ever had. They grew from partners to friends to lovers… But all that changed two months ago.

"We discovered a means to detect the aberrant genes… Sorry." She said, realizing insulting more than a half dozen powered people standing around her wouldn't end well, no matter how much she felt she was right about them.

"…to detect the genes before they activated. I ordered the entire organization be screened. Any positive hits would have been… dealt with. Logan objected to that decision, he said that there was no justification to do so and asked what I would do if it was me or someone I cared about, which is why Daisy dumped him and I reassigned him to menial duties, but eventually I kicked him out. Then the tests came back.

"Out of all the agents and staff members, we had just one positive test. Just one… Daisy. We'd just hooked up for the first time about two weeks prior. I was devastated. I'd fallen in love with her and yet, there I was… I was in my office; I had my pen in my hand to sign the order to have her killed. A strange woman suddenly, just, appeared in the room and offered me an out. She said had the technology to perform genetic surgery to remove the gene. She showed me her eyes as proof she could do that. But she warned me that a group of travelers from another world would appear, and if I wanted my Daisy…."

She stopped to choose her words again "…to have this procedure, I would need to kill at least the leaders of this group and give the one you called Seven to her."

"Everything was a ruse to keep the truth from your staff." Scott said.

Romanoff nodded.

"My Daisy thought that blond was a prostitute I'd hired for her. She likes…"

"Let's leave it at that" Daisy said, leaning against the kitchen table "I'm really not interested in the details of my other selves' sex lives."

"Sorry."

"Did they tell you anything else?"

"No. They simply came and went as they wanted."

The plane set down after a few minutes and Scott lead Romanoff down the stairs

"Where are we?"

"Just outside of a little town called Primm, Nevada."

"You're dumping me off in the desert?"

"No, I-15 passes through and there's a casino you can sit in and wait, play some slots."

"I'm a recovering gambling addict…"

"I know…" He said with his patented smart-ass smile.

"How?"

"Your girlfriend can sing and dance. Mine is _the_ best damn hacker in the world." He said smugly.

"I just have one question left." Scott said as he started up the stairs again. "The lady with the weird eyes. Did she ever give you her name?"

"Yeah, it was… strange." Romanoff said "She said her name was Mysiri. I know I have no right to ask this, but please bring my Daisy back to me."

"I'll do my damnedest…"

She watched as the plane took to the air again and vanished in a bright blue flash before starting her trek across the valley to the one little speck of civilization.


	23. Fourth Stop: The Right Direction

Chapter 58

"That wasn't so bad" Jay said as the plane finished its jump between worlds.

"Wait for it…" Thawne said, gripping what was left of the couch.

The plane started to buck again, but only for a few minutes.

"I got it… I got it…" Scott said, adjusting the controls and getting the plane back into line. "Big baby…"

"I heard that!"

"Would you look at that…" Daisy said as she looked out the windshield of the plane.

They were flying high above a city, whose buildings shot miles into the sky and were crisscrossed by bridges between them.

"Scott… I can't get any internet access." Daisy said "I think our gear is a few generations behind…"

"Any idea where we are?" Barry asked, stepping into the cockpit.

"Right back where this all started…" Scott said with a chuckle as the buildings gave way to a recognizable patch of green…

Central Park.

"Home sweet home…"

They found a secluded spot to touch down in.

"OK, we know nothing of this earth." Scott said "Everyone pair up, look around, be back here within an hour. This is recon ONLY. Stay in contact. Don't touch anything, don't talk to anyone and for the love of God don't draw attention to yourselves…"

Lincoln stayed behind to keep an eye on Jas while the others went off to look around.

"Something must have sent this earth's tech levels into the stratosphere compared to ours." Scott said as he and Daisy walked through the park.

Scott saw a couple walking towards them with a stroller. They looked up for a split second and he got a good look at their faces.

"Um…Daisy?" Scott asked "Is that… Us, coming this way? Pushing a baby carriage?"

"Oh crap... How should we…? I mean do we even?" Daisy said as their doppelgangers came closer.

"I don't know."

The couple in the distance noticed the pair standing there and walked right up to them.

"Hi there." The other Daisy said "So, time travel or what?"

"Um… Interdimensional actually…" Daisy replied, "You guys aren't freaked out by this at all?"

"Nah, I'm sure you two have seen your fair share of crazy…" The other Scott said. "You're unarmed, you're not attacking us, and you look like deer in headlights."

Daisy let out a small snort of a laugh "You wouldn't believe what we've been going through if you were along for the ride…"

"Who's this little cuttie pie?" Scott asked, kneeling in front of the stroller.

"It's Alisha" The local Scott said confused "Don't you two..?"

"Um… no." Scott said with a slight tone of awkwardness…

"wow…" The other Daisy said.

"Let me guess." The other Scott said "On your Earth, you two can't stand each other."

"No." Scott told him, taking Daisy's hand "No, we're together. It's just; it's a more recent development for us, that's all."

"This is weird." The local Scott said "So you're not married?"

The pair of dimension jumpers shook their heads.

"So, what brings you here?" Local Daisy asked

"The short version would seem like War & Peace." Scott told them

"Christ. What's the long version like?"

"Probably the entire Harry Potter series. And it's only been about..." Scott turned to his Daisy "What? Eight? Nine days?"

"Cool." The other Scott said with a grin on his face.

"Shorting in as much as I can, we're looking for three people who have been kidnapped. We've been tracking them, back tracking through a list of worlds."

Daisy took out her phone and showed them Bobbi's picture

"They were taken by this woman and her associate. Do you know her?"

Their local counterparts gave each other a quick look.

"Morse got them?" The other Scott asked.

"Yeah" Scott replied.

"That explains everything" The other Daisy told her husband "Those weren't clones."

"They were other versions of herself." He said back. "We've got to get Ally home, then report in. S.H.I.E.L.D is gonna what to hear this. You two should come with us."

"We might just have to take her with us. This is big…"

Daisy turned to her Scott "I think we just hit the jackpot"

A few minutes later

"So what you two, or four, are saying is that Barbara Morse has been kidnapping people from other dimensions to use as solders?" Phil Coulson asked.

"Pretty much" Scott said.

"You have any idea how ridiculous this sounds?"

"Any more or less than the fact there's two of each of us?" The local Daisy answered, her daughter squirming in her arms.

"Fury is going to think I need a vacation…" Coulson said.

"Well, maybe if you took one once in a while." The local Scott said.

"Not now Scott…"

"Come on Dad…" Local Daisy said.

"Dad?" Daisy said with her eyes wide…

"We'll share life stories later." Coulson told them "Right now, I need to make a call."

"You're telling me that crazy Hydra diva is still running around?" Fury said on the screen.

"It would seem so, sir." Coulson said "Agents Johnson and Riley found out she's been using some sort of interdimensional portal technology or something to cross between realities. She's been kidnapping people, often her own counterparts, to serve her."

"While that would sound like something that maniac would do, how can you two be so sure?" Fury asked.

"Because…" Daisy said as she and Scott stepped into view "That's how we got here."

Fury did a one eyed double take.

"I'll be there as soon as I can."

Meanwhile…

Seven tried to break out of the bonds that kept her in the chair, but struggle as she did, nothing happened.

The door to the room she was tied up in opened and a familiar faced stepped in.

"You've really derailed the project number seven." President Rogers said. "And don't try, those chains are vibranium, they'll absorb your vibrational powers easily."

"Forgive me, Sir. It was an accident" She said, still trying to break out of her restraints. "I did what had to be done. Leopold Fitz was going to kill Dr. Simmons. I couldn't let that happen."

"Why is she…" The man began to say. He looked at the young woman, saw the expression on her face, before turning to the soldiers by the door "pass the order along, Dr Jemma Simmons is not to be harmed."

"Thank you, Sir. I'm ready to accept whatever punishment you see fit."

"I think we can still make it work from here. It's just a minor setback." A voice said from behind Rogers. A figure in a cloak stepped through the door and came around from behind Rogers.

"Mom?" Seven asked.

"Not exactly" the woman said, lowering her hood. "You can call me Alveus… I believe that translates into English as 'Hive".


	24. Fourth Stop: Personal Difficulties

Chapter 59

"The others told me about you." Seven said "How you're the first. How you're crazy as all fuck and how you're supposed to be stuck on another planet…"

"Most of that is true…" She, it, came closer, right in Seven's face. Seven could see the disgusting undulations within the skin of what had been Jiayang Johnson.

"I guess after a few thousand years trapped on a barren rock, maybe I am a little… out there…" she said, staring into Seven's eyes "Who wouldn't be."

"How..? Why..?"

"Our dear friend Mysiri. She brought me back to this world and gave me this new body. So much better than the table scraps they were sending. I'm not sure if I was ever female before. She also modified it so it would be the perfect host."

She held out her hand next to Seven's head and released her parasites. They flew into Seven and took control.

Seven stopped fighting. She stopped resisting.

"Agent Seven reporting for duty." She said, flatly.

"Untie her" Rogers ordered.

The soldiers from outside stepped in and unlocked the restraints on Seven.

"Report, number Seven." The president ordered.

"Approximately ten days ago…" she said as she began to tell him everything.

"We need to get searching." Daisy said, "Where does Morse like to hang out?"

"Fury is going to want to debrief the both of you." Coulson told them "I don't know how things might work in your world, and I know these people are probably important to you if you've gone to this great a length to get them back, I'd really appreciate it if you two wait here for now until the Director gets here"

"Fine…" Daisy said.

The other Daisy, the one who lived on this Earth, started heading for the door "If it's OK with you, sir, I'm gonna take Ally back to Scott's parent's house. If things are gonna go down, I want my daughter in a safe place."

Scott and Daisy were led into a conference room to await Fury's arrival, the local Scott staying both to keep them company and out of curiosity.

"So, what's things like for your Earth?" the other Scott asked

"Well, we could go over the details with you but then we'd be here all day. And we're kinda in a hurry."

"Can you at least give me something?"

Scott turned and looked out the window, "well… Tower over there, why does it have a U on it?"

"It's for the Ultimates. They used to work out of there till well…"

"Cap and Iron Man went at it?"

"How'd you know?"

"As someone once said, 'the more things change, the more they stay the same.' Only on our Earth, we called them "The Avengers."

"That's actually quite catchy…"

"Pretty sure that's why Fury went with it."

Fitz and Jemma had worked their way to the Hudson River shoreline and were walking down along side it.

"I guess we're finally going to be able to go home soon." Fitz said "Coulson, May and the others are probably worried sick."

"I'm not sure about Coulson being bothered." Jemma said

"Not like you to think like that…"

"You didn't see what we've gone through the past year. I slit a man's throat, Fitz…"

"Right… I keep forgetting."

"Ever since he came back from Tahiti, he's been so wrapped in whatever he's working on I'm not sure he even realizes we're gone. When he came out of the office and came with us to see Scott, it felt like a miracle."

"Now did he say left or right past the elevator bank?" Scott wondered to himself. He had to go to the restroom and had gotten himself turned around.

"We can't keep this up." He heard a voice say "He's going to find out eventually."

"It doesn't matter when he finds out." A second voice said from behind a nearby closed door. "It doesn't matter if he finds out. Scott's an idiot."

Scott barged into the room "I'm sorry who's…?"

"Oh shit…" the local Daisy screamed.

"Walk away Riley…" Lincoln Campbell said.

"Hey, sorry" The other Scott said "It was left then right, downstairs is diff…" He looked into the room his counterpart was staring into.

There was his wife, his Daisy… in the arms of Lincoln.

"Daisy…? What's… I…" He said in disbelief.

"Scott… I sorry. I'm really sorry…" She said "

"How long?"

"I well…"

"I SAID HOW LONG?"

"Three years…" Daisy admitted.

"Is she even mine?" her husband demanded "Is Ally my daughter?"

"I... I don't know."

"Of course you know who she belongs to." Lincoln said, putting one hand on her shoulder and the other on her waist.

"GET…YOUR…SLIMY…HANDS…OFF…MY…WIFE…"

"Make me."

Scott had enough of how this Lincoln was talking to his counterpart and slammed him into the wall with his telekinesis.

"Right now, you're dealing with me." Scott said.

"So what… It doesn't change anything" the man said

Scott just applied more force.

"She doesn't love you, you loser" Lincoln choked out from the pressure of Scott's powers.

"No…no…no…" The local Daisy cried as her counterpart arrived, followed by Coulson.

"Scott, what the hell are you doing?" His girlfriend demanded. She yanked his arm down and this caused him to release Lincoln.

"sir, your beloved adopted daughter is cheating on me with HIM!" The local Scott said, pointing

"Daisy? Is this true?" Coulson asked

"…yes…" she said, with her head down "I've been sleeping with him…"

The two interdimensional travels stepped out of the room to get out of the way as the yelling started.

"I'm sorry about our little first impression." Nick Fury said "Two shocks in less than an hour. So… what can you two tell me about Madam Hydra?"

"Well, we first encountered her a few days ago. She kidnapped two people we were traveling with, and we've come to the conclusion, based on evidence provided by still others in our little party, that she is working with someone named Mysiri, who might be an alien."

"This day just keeps getting better and better." Fury said "Aliens, brainwashing, travel between dimensions and my best agent is having an affair. What are you gonna tell me next? The Jolly Green Giant is gonna tap dance down Broadway…


	25. Fourth Stop: Relationships

Chapter 60

After a long forty-five minutes of talking to Director Fury, Scott and Daisy were led down to a lab where their local counterparts were waiting.

"Dr .Streiten is doing a quick paternity test." Coulson told them.

"Well…" Dr. Streiten said "I have the results… Daisy if you'd come with me for a moment."

The local Daisy went inside and the two spoke for a minute or two before they came back out.

"So, Doc" Lincoln said with smug look on his face "What are the results of the test."

Streiten looked at the two men

"Well, I can say without a doubt" he said, before he turned to the local Scott "Congratulations once again Agent Riley, it's a girl."

The local Scott breathed a deep sigh of relief.

"Scott… I…" Daisy said.

"I don't want to hear it right now." He said.

She walked slowly out of the room.

"I owe you one" The local Scott told himself "I would have never found out if it wasn't for you."

"Hey… Don't sweat it."

"Um…" Local Scott said to the pair "would she mind running ahead. No offense, but…"

"No problem." Daisy said. "I'll head downstairs, find us a cab or something…"

"So, what are you gonna do now?" Scott asked his counterpart.

"I don't know…." The other said "What would you do?"

"Beat Lincoln to within an inch of his life."

"What about Daisy… thankfully Ally is mine, but…"

"Hey, don't bet yourself up about this. I had to watch her faun over him for over a year and then when he died…"

'He died…"

"Long story. Quinjet, bomb, really bad guy. She was about to do the deed herself, but he stopped her."

The two headed back to the main room.

"I've never used my powers in public. I've always been scared they'd round me up for having an unexplained gift."

"What's unexplained about it? We're Inhuman."

"You've undergone terrigenesis?"

"No."

"So then how are we inhuman?"

"It runs in both sides of the family and, well, then there's what happened to cousin Barty…"

Scott gave his other self a brief rundown of his adventure a few months prior.

"So you only started to go out with Daisy then?"

"No… It's a bit more complicated than that."

"You didn't get to talk to her at the Hub?"

"No, Agent Rangle had a teleconference with Robin Sparkles and her computer had crashed and she couldn't get at the files."

"Robin what?"

"It was the Hub tech department's nickname for Deputy Director Hill."

"Who?"

"Maria Hill? Kinda looks like the actress on "How I Met Your Mother?"

"Name doesn't ring a bell, and I never watched that show."

"I never really watched it ether, but Deflaco's always had a weird sense of humor."

"Yeah, that does sound like something he would have done…"

The two entered the main command room and walked over to Coulson.

"You okay, agent Riley?"

"Daisy and I will be having a long talk once we send these folks on their way."

"Only once I get done with her." Coulson said "I can assure you Dr. Campbell with be dealt with as well."

Coulson handed Scott a slip of paper.

"Last known coordinates of Bobbi Morse's operations. Tell her we said hello."

"Will do." Scott said, shaking his hand.

"We good?" Daisy asked her Scott as he stepped outside

"Yeah, got a location they think Morse might be hiding."

"Good." She said as the started walking towards the park.

"About what happened back there…"

"Nothing to talk about. You're not her. And the Lincoln on our crew is nowhere near as much an asshole as that guy was."

Lincoln waked up to Dr. Streiten as he was getting ready to leave,

"I guess telling him that Alisha is his was the best for the situation, but she is mine, right?"

"I'm sorry, Lincoln, but Scott is Alisha's father." Streiten said "The DNA doesn't lie."

"How… That's not possible."

"There is a… let's call it interesting section of genetic code in both Scott and Alisha's DNA that's not present in yours or Daisy's. It could have only come from Scott. I'm sorry, but you are not her father. Now, if you excuse me, I'm late for a meeting."

Lincoln grabbed the other man's arm.

"You don't understand… She HAS to be mine. She needs to be mine…"


	26. Fourth Stop: Feelins of inadequnecy

Chapter 61

President Steve Rogers entered the Oval Office, having returned from debriefing the recovered Agent Seven at SSR headquarters.

"Send in Col. Hand, please." He said over his intercom.

A few moments of waiting, the SSR deputy commander entered.

"You wanted to see me, Sir?"

"I've recently been given some reports dealing with CHIMERA agents getting past your security. Your operations seem to have more holes than swiss cheese…"

"I'll have to have a word with Leopold…" She began before he cut her off.

"Mr. Fitz is a technically a civilian contractor in your employ. The safety and security of the SSR as a division of the United States Military is ultimately YOUR responsibility, not his."

"I take it I'm fired, Sir." Hand said.

"You could say that." He said, as a shot rang out and, suddenly, Hand's body was lying in a heap on the floor.

"Good work, Number Seven." Rogers said "I think this is going to work just fine."

Rogers looked over the body, the bullet impacted right in the ear. He reached around his desk and picked up the face mask the shot had knocked off. He looked inside the head at the strange alien shapes and parts the mechanical replica of Hand was made out.

"One of these days she's going to build one of these that will look TOO human." He said reaching for his desk intercom again

"Get someone to clean this mess up before someone sees it. Tell the real Victoria I do want to have a word with her."

"This was a machine?" Seven asked

"Yes." Rogers said as two workers came in to remove the robot "had to be sure you're willing to follow orders. I just didn't want to waste manpower. Would have used Dr. Simmons appearance, but you would have probably sensed something was fishy."

"Is it not in violation of the law for such a device to exist?"

"Of course not."

"But the SCRA…"

"Doesn't apply to us."

Scott and Daisy returned to Zephyr Zero to find none of the others had returned yet.

"Hey," Lincoln said "How'd it go."

Scott stood still for a moment in the entryway.

"Fine… Just fine." He said after a moment before entering the cockpit.

Daisy followed in after him.

"I though you said he wasn't going to bother you."

"Well I was wrong." Scott said, plopping in his chair and pulling his legs up to his chest.

Daisy took a deep breath "You said it yourself, we're not them. Our Lincoln is gone. I'd never thought I'd be able to say this, but you've allowed me to move on. I'm not going to throw it away like the other me did for a quick bang."

She sat down in the co-pilot seat.

"You know… I've been thinking" She said trying to change the subject "… about what we would name our kids, if we had any."

Scott just sat there.

"Come on, talk to me" She said, putting her hand on his shoulder.

"OK" he sighed "I just feel like I'm forever going to be in his shadow. Everyone is going to know him as the guy you should have been with and I'm just the guy you settled for. Heaven help me if we find a Grant Ward…"

"Don't even go there…" Daisy said.

"Daisy… I saw what happened to you. What you became after…"

He took a deep breath.

"Tell me the truth… Did you want to die?"

"No…" she said shifting in her seat. "… in a way… kinda… at first… I… But that was a lot of things happening at once. Getting pulled of sway, Dr. Gardner dying to save me…"

"That's the root of my problem. I'm just a nobody who's done nothing to deserve all this."

"Nothing? You saved my life."

"Only after you had to save mine."

"I think you could have gotten out of there on your own. You had your human shield."

"Yeah, if the coward hadn't run off the moment, I freed him… Terregin must have a sense of humor if it gave a thick-headed idiot thick skin…"

The two laughed quietly at that.

"Scott… Just forget he even existed." Daisy said, getting up and moving to his side of the cockpit, climbing between him and the controls "I love you, screw what they all think."

She leaned down and kissed him. He responded and within a few moments the two were making out.

"maybe they'll be lucky enough to have a happy ending…" Jas said to Lincoln, the two having overheard Scott and Daisy talking.

"I hope so…"

Within half an hour, the others worked their way back, mostly only late from having gotten lost in the park.

"So where are we going exactly?" Barry asked Scott as the got the plane ready to fly.

"JFK." Scott said as the plane lifted off "The S.H.I.E.L.D. of this earth has a support crew waiting for us with fuel and supplies. A gift from Director Fury."

"And after that."

"After that, well, that's where things get interesting…"

"Morse is in the Lighthouse…" Daisy said to the Fitz and Jemma as the they flew over the city.

"_The_ Lighthouse? Our Lighthouse?" Jemma asked, slightly shocked.

"Weird, ain't it…"

The short hop over and the plane back on the ground, Scott and Daisy started down the stairs when the agent in charge walked towards them.

"Good Afternoon." He said, cheerily as they froze in place.

"Something the matter?" Agent Grant Ward asked, looking up at the pair.

"Me and my big mouth…" Scott said.


	27. Fourth Stop: Preperation

Chapter 62

"Are you OK Agent Riley?"

"No.. nothing… Irony… that's all…"

"Ok then." Ward said "Director Fury says you're in need of some help and we're here to provide it."

"Great… you wouldn't happen to have a spare jet engine lying around, would ya?."

Ward motioned off to his left, at a pair of engines ready to be installed.

"He figured replacing both would be better."

Once the ground crew started servicing the plane, Scott and Daisy briefed the others.

"So…" Scott began "In 1965, a spaceship lands on this Earth, carrying refugees from Asgard. It would seem their world was destroyed early here. S.H.E.I.L.D. took them in and gave them a home in exchange for the ship they'd used. They took it apart and reverse engineered the tech inside, which is why they're about twenty to thirty years ahead of us.

"S.H.I.E.L.D did suffer from a Hydra infestation, but they successfully put it down. Apart from one group."

He pressed a button on a remote in his hands and the hologram projector switched on, showing a mug shot of a younger Bobbi.

"Unlike our Earth, Bobbi Morse fell in with a rather bad crowd growing up. Spent most of high school shuttling in and out of juvenile detention. Got roped into S.H.I.E.L.D. as a prison release program, and quickly got involved with the Hydra elements embedded in S.H.I.E.L.D., got a little cozy with our old 'Friend' John Garret.

"When Hydra tried to take over, she and a few troops found their way to the Lighthouse in search of anything useful left there. When Hydra was destroyed, she was all that was left. Presumably, some time between then and now is when she met Mysiri."

Daisy stepped forward "Now for the one detail that probably lead to all this..."

She nodded to Scott, who advanced the holographic slideshow.

"Her lover and partner in crime… Melinda May…"

"Have you dealt with anyone who isn't a counterpart to someone you know?" Jay asked "I though that was just our problem."

"Thankfully," She continued "given that this S.H.I.E.L.D. built the place and _didn't_ keep it off the records, we have access to it's blueprints. Problem is…"

The image changed to a wireframe model of the massive underground structure

"…It makes our Lighthouse look like a storm cellar…" Scott finished

"How deep does it go?" Fitz asked

"Three kilometers…" Scott replied, "Though the bottom third seems to be support for some large power generation system."

"Excuse me," Agent Ward interrupted, which was greeted Fitz and Jemma jumping slightly at his presence.

"Do I smell funny? I showered this morning… Anyway, is one of you a 'Barry Allen?"

"Yeah" Barry said, standing with trepidation

Ward handed him a box and left.

Barry opened the box to find his Flash costume, neatly folded along with more of the strange silver disks Jay and Jessie had found.

"How did this get here?" He asked in shock.

He found a card at the bottom of the box

"Should have put this in the last time, disks only have enough energy for five minutes total use of speed each. Use wisely."

Scott looked at the message. "That's not my handwriting."

Daisy peaked over his shoulder "No. It's… Mine."

The two looked at each other.

"Let's not worry about that right now." She said.

"If S.H.I.E.L.D. knew where Bobbi was, why haven't the taken her out." Fitz asked

"Fury gave us three reasons." Daisy explained "Number one, she was basically by herself. They only recently came into contact with some of her doppelgangers in black. Second reason was the Lighthouse is extremely fortified. Drop a nuke on it and they would barely feel a thing. Third reason is collateral damage."

"The lighthouse site on our Earth is under what is basically a park" Scott explained "With River's End nearby. On this Earth, Rivers End was rebuilt as a master planned city called Lakeside, right on top of the Lighthouse without anyone knowing it. S.H.I.E.L.D. had already abandoned the place. The city is home to about Two hundred thousand people and S.H.I.E.L.D.'s oversight in the government won't let them move on the place with the city above."

"So…" Thawne asked "Is there a point to all this or do we credit for this lecture. I could just take this Disk, grab Iris and we can go."

Barry flipped the card over and read some writing on the back

"P.S. Thawne will try to do this himself, the disks are encoded to zap him if the tries to touch them."

"God I hate time travel" Fitz said, shaking his head.

"Here's the plan;" Daisy continued "Once we're inside, Lincoln, Scott and I will search for May and take down Bobby. Barry will look for Iris, obviously. Jay, you take Thawne and find out what happened to the Legends. Jessie, you and Fitz will head down to the lower levels to standby to destabilize the power core."

"Why would we do that, we don't even know what kind of power core that is."

"I was getting to that part." Daisy answered, "The point is to make the building a viable threat that the government allows S.H.I.E.L.D. to destroy it if our operation goes south."

"We're not going up there alone" Scott said. "there will be a flight of S.H.I.E.L.D. attack aircraft ready to bomb the city. Fury said they have something that will keep the core in check."

"What am I supposed to do?' Jemma asked

"We made a promise." Scott said "If the mission goes south and the Lighthouse needs to be destroyed. You're going to have to get Jas out of here."

"You expect me to fly the plane?"

"Like I said before, it's got automated pilot aids that would allow just about anyone to fly it."

"Real comforting…"


	28. Fourth Stop: getting a foot in the door

Chapter 63

A few minutes later, Scott was in the cockpit, running a test on the new engines to integrate them into the plane's existing controls.

"Nice Ward says there should be a thirty-five percent increase in thrust output while using twenty-five percent less fuel. I need to recalibrate the engine sensors before we leave."

"Are you going to be OK with my decision to bring Lincoln on our group?"

"Well, You're…" He stopped for a second "The one who knows what he can do…"

"You were about to say boss." Daisy complained.

"I plead the fifth." He said, "I know enough not to question a good idea when I hear one."

Scott flipped a few switches and the hologram of the plane appeared, showing both engines highlighted in green.

"And we're good to go."

He got up and walked back to the main cabin.

"Anyone wants out, here's your last chance." He said before raising the stairs and locking the door.

A few minutes later they were airborne and on their way towards Lake Ontario.

Barry scratched his head in puzzlement "So why is S.H.I.E.L.D. not sending anyone else with us?"

"Extremely plausible deniably. How can we be doing this mission if we don't exist or are somewhere else?" Jemma told him.

Lincoln stepped into the cockpit "Hey, Riley, can we talk for a second?"

"Sure…"

"I thought we were over this jealousy thing? Cause I'm getting a serious 'I don't like you' vibe off you right now."

"We didn't tell you guys everything…" Scott said with a sigh "… The counterparts on this world of Daisy and me are married. I, on sheer happenstance, walked in on Daisy's counterpart in the middle of a romantic liaison with your counterpart. They'd been having an affair for years."

"Look, I'm not…"

"I know you're not." Scott interrupted "What I'm worried about is the inability for any of us to keep that fact in mind, myself included. I'm as controlled by my feelings as anyone else. I know deep down inside it bothers you to see her with me and I honestly don't blame you given the hell holes we've all been through.

"Like I told her, I sometimes still feel I don't deserve this. I'm just a glorified repairman, I just happen to know how to fly planes and I can move objects without touching them. I'm not a Fury or a Coulson. I'm not a leader. I'm not a Captain Rogers. I'm not a badass fighter. I'm not Fitz or Simmons. I don't have enough degrees to use them in place of wall paper. I'm not a Daisy. I'm not a hero. I'm nobody. I don't belong here."

"I just happened to be in the right place at the right time. I don't think I deserve anything I got ether. But I don't take it for granted."

"You… I… URGH…" Scott muttered.

"Feel better?" Lincoln asked

"Actually, yes."

"If you're Inhuman, then you have some sort of purpose. We all do."

"Right… that story."

"It's not just a story. Everything has always pointed to it being right."

"We're the end result of a science experiment by a bunch of blue skinned assholes thousands of years ago… what does that have to do with fate or God or any other concept of a higher power in the universe? All I know is the people who you've used that line about, tend to not walk away from it, so leave me out of it."

"Fine…"

"we'll be landing in about ten minutes. Tell everyone to get ready."

"And you're sure this is the ONLY way in?" Lincoln asked as they walked down the street

"It's the only entrance that's not backfilled and under twenty feet of reinforced concrete. Our intel shows her coming in and out of here every so often, so unless you brought a jackhammer, this is it." Scott said as he pulled a mask over his head.

"I just don't see the need all this."

"It was Fury's idea. No clue why."

"EVERYBODY DOWN!" Daisy screamed as they walked into a bank, firing a gun into the air.

Scott walked over to a teller and grabbed him by the shirt. "Which way is the safety deposit vault?"

The man held up a finger in the direction of some stairs. "Thank you" Scott said, before slamming the man's head into the desk "Sorry about that, need to sell it."

"You bring the lock pick" Daisy asked Scott, who produced a small brick of C4 from his bag and placed it against the wall of boxes.

They set the charge and backed away.

"You guys ready?" Daisy called back to the other's "It's show time."


	29. Fourth Stop: Uncomfortable reunions

Chapter 64

BOOOM!

The blast took out the wall, revealing the hidden tunnel down into the Lighthouse.

"Go!" Daisy called out, both over her comm and to Scott and Lincoln.

The three felt their speedster companions zipping past them and followed them down the tunnel.

"First thing's first." Daisy said as they regrouped "First priority is ensuring Jessie and Fitz get down to the power core. They know we're here and we could use as many distractions as possible. Trip breakers, cut cables, anything to get their attention away from us.

"Once that's done, the absolute priority is Iris. Then May and the Legends."

"Remember the disks have a limited charge of speed." Scott said, "Barry and Jay, if it runs below thirty seconds, abort and use what's left to return to the Zephyr. Jessie, you're going to need yours to get yourself and Fitz out, so I suggest you don't use it all prior unless you have to."

"Everyone good?" Daisy asked "We have thirty minutes before the S.H.I.E.L.D. attack jets arrive. Let's be out of here ASAP."

"Jemma, I need some water." Jas said, watching the video feeds from the teams in the field.

"You keep drinking these we'll be out, and you'll need to go to the bathroom."

"Sorry, you try carrying this around for nine months…" Jas said, pointing to her massively expanded torso where her child was. She knew she was late, the baby might even come before the others got back.

"So why do they call this 'running the back end?"

"From a safe distance we can keep the team apprised of threats and dangers. We're too far away and they're in a shielded bunker, so all we can do right now is watch the map and keep an ear out for trouble."

The two doppelgangers sat quietly for a while.

"How are you feeling" Jemma asked.

"I'm angry. I'm seething in rage. But I signed up for this life. So did my Daisy. We both know the risks. It's just. I was SO close to having her back."

"You can have her back right now if you'd like?" A voice said from the rear of the plane.

"Daisy?" Jemma asked "What are you..." she began to ask before the figure steeped out of the darkened corridor leading to the rear ramp. She was wearing a black jump suit.

"Stay back!" Jemma yelled, standing, ICER drawn only to be blasted back across the cabin.

Jas looked up in horror.

"What's the matter?" Agent Seven said, standing over her "Don't you have a kiss for your wife?"

"What happened to you?"

"Something wonderful." Seven said with a creepy smile. "Don't try to get up, we're going home."

"Any luck yet?" Scott asked over the comms.

"We've found a back stairwell that seem to be empty" Fitz replied "No sign of anyone.

"They might be sticking to the lower levels, closer to the power core." Daisy "stay alert."

"Rodger that."

"How you holding up" Fitz asked Jessie

"Fine, mostly, never held a gun before. Not even one of these stun guns."

"Takes some getting used to. Jemma and I weren't exactly field agent material when this… whole adventure started all those years ago. Coulson described it to Daisy when she joined up as 'a Front row seat to the strangest show on Earth.' Understatement if I ever heard one."

Scott, Daisy and Lincoln had arrived in the counterpart of their control room.

They quickly got to work trying to gain access.

"Well, Hydra here must have great tech support the system is completely isolated and locked. This is gonna take time." Daisy said,

Scott felt a buzz in his pocket. He pulled his phone out to find an automated alert from the plane.

"Guys… someone is trying to steal _Zephyr Zero_."

"Can you stop it?"

"Most certainly." He said, pressing a kill switch button on the control app.

A few moments later, however, the connection went dead.

"I think they just jumped…"


	30. Fourth Stop: Sister's Keeper

Chapter 65

"Everyone, new plan." Daisy said over the comms while still typing furiously "Someone has taken the Zephyr. We have to assume they have Jemma and Jas as well. Our exit strategy is gone. We're going to have to find how Hydra Bobbi got to and from Barry's Earth and use that to escape. Fitz and Jessie, when you get to the power core, plant the charge and head back up immediately.

"_The timer on the detonator only goes up to half an hour_." Fitz called back

"We know." Scott said "Barry and Jay, you're gonna have to double time it, but I would still recommend not using the disks yet."

"_We're still a few floors above the core control room_." Fitz said after Barry and Jay had acknowledge what Scott had told them.

"I'm in!" Daisy said before looking at the screen and having her jaw drop "Fitz, you're going to want to wait on setting that charge."

"_Why?_"

"It's not going to work. The core…"

Scott looked over her shoulder.

"Please tell me that's not what I think it is…" he said, facepalming

"_WHAT?_" Fitz demanded

"The monoliths… all four of them…" Daisy told him.

"_The monoliths are in the core_?"

"The Monoliths ARE the core."

The screen showed the four alien stones arranged in a circle. Somehow, the base was drawing it's power from them.

"Isn't that the rock that ate Simmons?"

Daisy nodded quietly. Scott, on the other hand…

"God DAMN IT!" he yelled, kicking a chair and sending it flying before flipping a nearby table on its side, "We blow this place we could cause another dimensional rip."

"So, that's good, we can escape through it." Lincoln said

"Sure, if you enjoy ripping open a dimension with the power to make our fears manifest or worse. I don't want to know what four of them together would do. We don't even know if this earth has enough gravitonium to close it."

"Grava-what now? What are we trying to close? That sounds like a way out."

Scott took a deep breath

"When we found you, you said that you'd found your Stark device just after you returned from the future, correct?"

Lincoln nodded.

Daisy picked up the story "After we returned, we found the three other obelisks, one thing leads to another and they get blown to bits. This left a hole in the fabric of the universe into… literally fear.

"It could take what you were afraid of and make it real." Scott continued.

Lincoln looked at the pair in confusion.

"You know Coulson's story right?" Scott asked, "Got stabbed in chest. Died. Got pumped full of alien blood, alive again."

"That part I'm aware." Lincoln said, wondering where this was going.

"Part two, then. Gets possessed by a 'spirit of vengeance'; which somehow destroys said alien blood, leaving him dying again. He runs in to try to close portal and meets a Mike Peterson who looks just like he did when they first met, and not a Deathlok. This Mr. Peterson tells him this was a dream, it's still 2012, and he's in the med bay of the Helicarrier dying from his original stab wound. The other dimension took our fears and made them into physical objects, physical threats. Coulson, his fear was that none of this was real, that nothing he'd done had mattered. Jemma was attacked by Hive's astronaut body from Maveth, the thing that hunted her for months. I saw Daisy lying dead on the ground while her ghost taunted me for never telling her I loved her. Yo-yo was attacked by a robotic copy of Jemma who tried to suffocate her. You can see why we don't want to go through that again. We can't let anything happen to those rocks."

"Coulson was dying?"

"Yeah. Turns out GH-325 isn't the end all, be all of medical treatments."

"Didn't you say he was fine?"

"We left him with May in Tahiti to enjoy what time he had left." Daisy said, "Three weeks later, just walks in the front door, like nothing had happened."

"What had happened?"

"Wouldn't tell us. He's hardly left the office since he's gotten back. The trip to New York to inspect the Stark Device was the first time he'd left the base since."

"I'm almost afraid to find out what happened on my Earth."

"_Jessie and I are at the power control room_." Fitz called over the radio.

"We're going to have to stick with you disconnecting the power." Daisy told him "we can't run the risk of destroying the core."

The door to the room flew off the hinges as the black suited foot soldiers stormed in.

"Hello everyone…" Morse said, stepping in front of her black clad troops, "nice of you to drop by…"

"Nice of you to have us, love what you did with the place. So much green." Scott said sarcastically.

"Kill that one so I don't have to listen to him talk anymore."

Scott quickly ducked behind the table he'd upturned before as the soldiers opened fire.

Daisy tried to quake them down, but they stood still pointing their guns at her instead.

"Oh crap."

Lincoln jumped to Daisy's defense, only to get shot in the shoulder. Daisy screamed for him as the soldiers advanced on them. Thinking quickly, Scott used his powers to push the table forward, knocking into the soldiers. They didn't budge. If he could see their faces, they'd probably be more annoyed than anything.

"OK… Didn't think that through." He quipped before rolling behind a console.

"Finish him now, so I don't have to listen to his stupid banter, secure the other two. I have use for the boy and as for her… She'll make an excellent plaything."

"Go. Just go." Daisy mouthed to Scott, nodding toward an air vent nearby

"Not happening" he hissed back.

"I surrender." Daisy said, standing, her hands in the air.

"NO!" Scott yelled, trying to reach for her, but only to be sent back into hiding by more gunfire.

He realized he had little choice, and used his powers to pull the grate off the vent, and sent it flying right at Morse, who ducked out of the way

"Mark my words, Morse, this isn't over." Scott yelled over the guns as he dove into the vent.

"Damn it. You idiots couldn't hit the broad side of a mountain…" Morse raged, "Grab her, put this on them."

She handed them a pair of inhibitor bracelets.

"Smart choice, dear sister." Agent Seven said as she entered. Her uniform was almost identical to the Hydra soldiers, only with an SSR eagle on her belt buckle.

"Seven? What are you doing?" Daisy asked as the soldiers grabbed her.

"Why, I came to get you" She said before turning to Morse, "My superiors have need for her first, then she's all yours."


	31. Fourth Stop: Legends of Another World

Chapter 66

Scott watched from another grate as the soldiers led Daisy away. Another pulled Lincoln up to his feet.

"Well, that wasn't the brave last stand I was expecting." Morse said, mocking him.

"Go to hell." He said in a daze.

"I'm already there." She said, flatly, "Take him down to the machine."

"OK, plans are out the window. Daisy and Lincoln have been captured and I'm doing my best John McClain impression." Scott said over the radio as he crawled through the air system, only no one responded.

"Just my luck." He said, realizing he was ether being jammed, or the duct work was acting like a giant faraday cage. He crawled on, hoping to find the others.

"I can't get through to anyone." Fitz said. "Something's wrong."

"Maybe we should set the charge and …." Jessie began to say before she began to cough. The two quickly realized Morse was pumping in some kind of gas. Fitz set the timer and tossed the block of C4 onto a control console instead. Jessie switched on her speed disk and tried to race out of the room with him, only to be blasted, sending her crashing into a wall, the impact knocking Fitz out.

One of the soldiers was standing over Jessie, carrying an Anti-Speedster gun. "The Mistress has need for you." More of the soldiers arrived, picking up the two and carrying them away.

The soldiers dragged Lincoln into a large room, where a hodgepodge of machinery lay strewn everywhere.

"What is all this."

"A machine Mysiri helped me build. A time machine. And you are going to help me run it."

"Sorry," Lincoln said with a laugh "I'm not _THAT_ kind of doctor."

"I don't understand what you're saying, but all I need from you is a tiny little spark. Help me get back the woman I love, and I can help you get back the one you love…"

"I don't even know if this would work" Nate said, tugging at the collar around his neck, which prevented him from becoming metal.

"I know what I'm doing," Ray said "Zari knows what she's doing, if she can keep her temper under control."

"I've been stuck in this getup for days" Zari complained, ruffling her heavy gown "You two at least got to keep your normal clothes. I've had to look…"

She was interrupted by a sudden creak from above them followed by someone yelling.

Suddenly, an air vent grate gave way.

"SHIT!" Scott cried, landing hard on the table on the table.

"OWWW…"

"Who the hell are you?" Zari asked

"Name's Scott." He groaned as he sat up "I'm going to assume you three are the Legends?"

"How did you know?"

"I'm here with your friend Barry."

"Great, can you cut us loose?" Nate asked

"And did you bring a pair of pants?" Zari asked hopefully

Nate and Ray just gave a look.

"What? I can dream, can't I?"

The door opened and one of the black suited soldiers came in. Knowing there had to be something that made them unaffected by his powers, Scott drew his gun and fired at the soldier, kocking it to the ground. He stepped on its wrist, hearing a female sounding whelp of pain as he did so.

She opened her helmet with her free hand and the four saw… Morse. Another Morse, a different one. This one looked like the was something extremely different about her.

"Where are my friends?" Scott yelled, pointing his gun at her face.

Morse began to cry. And not weeping tears, but like a child. Scott stepped back and lowered his gun.

"Hey.. hey calm down." Zari said. "we don't want to hurt you."

"Your pretty." Morse said to her, calming slightly.

"Thanks… I guess."

"Who are you?" Scott asked "How did you get here?"

"The nice lady, the mistress brought me here. She calls me 5… uh…4 … Number 547…"

It suddenly dawned on the four what they were dealing with.

"The nice lady said she wanted to play… I like to play…" The Bobbi lying on the ground said "They wouldn't let me play at home. The others didn't want to play."

"Well, shows how low she'd go if she'd recruit special needs versions of herself as cannon fodder." Ray said, disgusted.

"Mistress Lady says if I lose the game, press this button." She said, reaching for her belt.

"NO!" Scott screamed as she tapped the Hydra logo on her belt, and within moments, was dust.

"That bitch is going to pay." Zari said flatly.

"Let's get you guys out of here first." Scott said.


	32. Fourth Stop: Justification

Chapter 67

"So, who are you?" Ray asked as Scott rummaged through the room "ARGUS? One of Oliver's?"

"Agent Scott Riley. I'm with an organization called S.H.I.E.L.D., we don't exist on your world or in your cluster of worlds."

"Our what?" Nate asked

"You've been brought to another dimension; outside the ones you're used to."

"Cool" Ray said, weirdly enthusiastic. "Well, I mean, not cool…"

'So, you're some kind of interdimensional cop?" Zari asked

"Nope, this was all accidental. What's in here?" he asked, tapping on a padlocked drawn in the wall.

"We don't know. It's locked, I've tried to get it open."

Scott held out his hand and after a few seconds, the draw's cover popped off.

"Boom, done. Acetylene torch, perfect."

He began cutting the Legends free.

"What did she have you doing here, anyway?" He asked.

"Morse took the temporal delineator from our ship" Ray explained "She's got some machine upstairs she needed it for. Zari and I were being made to make the delineator compatible with the hardware she had. Nate was brought here by accident."

"I heard her yelling they 'grabbed the wrong one" Nate added "I'm a historian."

"Does your friend Mick have any useful technical skills?"

"No, but Wally does…"

"But he got away and warned us." Scott said.

"But he's only an engineering student." Ray said "What… Oh no."

"What?"

"She must have needed his speed."

"Oh crap." Scott said "I just brought her three more…"

"Scott? Daisy? Guys? Hello? I can't hear anyone?" Barry called over the comm.

"Hello Barry" he heard behind him. He turned to see Iris, standing there in the same black suit with black helmet, the visor open to show her face.

"Iris, what are you doing?"

"Following Mistress' orders" She said "Her satisfaction justifies my obedience…"

She threw herself at him, wildly punching him.

"What's the matter, can't fight back? Won't hit a girl?"

"I don't have my speed. There's no Speed Force here."

"I know" she said with an evil smile before closing her helmet's visor. She tackled him to the ground, sitting astride his chest.

"Goodbye Barry…"

Barry reached to his chest to turn the disk on again, just as she was about to bring her hands down on his head. Suddenly, she was blasted backwards off him.

Scott came running up with the three Legends.

"Barry!" Ray yelled.

"Don't, that's Iris."

"Quick, get the belt and helmet off her." Scott said.

Ray and Nate quickly pulled both off, but Iris still struggled.

"Let me go. I must kill you. I must." She screamed.

Barry put his arms around her, the thrashing accidently turning the disk back on. As the power of the speed force re-entered him again, a shock jumped to Iris. She went limp for a moment before regaining her senses.

"Barry?" Iris asked, taking deep breaths. "Oh God." She yelled as she returned his embrace.

"It's ok." He said

She said, "Morse is going to kill May. She's going to use the device from the _Waverider_ to open a gateway into the past, and, just before her May dies, switch her for yours."

"She's not my May, she's Skye and Jas' but that's not the point."

At this point, Jay and Thawne came around a bend,

"Oh good, everyone is here, we can go now." Thawne said smugly.

"Harry?" Iris asked, confused

"Not exactly, Mrs. West-Allen." He said, his tone of voice telling her who he was.

"THAWNE?"

Nate and Ray jumped slightly, moving towards him, ready to attack.

"Hey, hey" Scott said, stepping between them "Not now. You can beat him up later."

"What the hell is he doing here?" Nate demanded

"He insisted on coming." Barry said nonchalantly "Didn't want me to go Savatar."

"Not everyone is here. Where's Sara and Ava?" Iris asked

"Ava's here two?" Nate asked in response.

"They put me in this getup."

Scott reached over and picked up her helmet.

"There's a speaker inside, it's saying something."

"Let me hear" Thawne said, taking it. He put his ear in one side and immediately threw the helmet down the hall.

"SHIT!" He said in a panic "This isn't good."

"If you're scared, we're screwed" Scott said.

Scott, Barry and the others looked at Thawne and saw, to their amazement, a look of genuine fear on his face.

"It's repeating the Anti-Life Equation."


	33. Fourth Stop: Yesterday's Secrets

Chapter 68

"What's an anti-life equation?" Barry asked

"A Mathematical equation that can strip a person of their free will."

"I always knew math was evil." Scott noted.

"This is serious." Thawne said "There is a being, his name is Darksied, who wants this BADLY. We can't let him have it."

"Why do you care? You were helping the Nazis last we saw you."

"I care because I need to exist. No you, no Flash. No Flash, no me. Kinda simple logic there, don't you think?"

"Iris, where is Morse's machine?" Scott asked, trying to change the subject.

"This way."

The reached the room just as the door was sliding closed. Barry slapped his disk and grabbed Scott by the arm, the two making it inside just as the door shut. However, in the process, Barry has used up the last of his disk's charge. The device shut off and fell to the ground.

"I told you to save that."

"I did…" Barry said "Now what do we do?"

"We wait… Any minute now…"

"Soon, you'll be in my arms again." Morse told May as she stood before the machine.

"Start it up." She told Sara. Sara began inputting commands into the computer system.

The lights all dimmed.

"This is about as far as we've gotten. We just need a little more power." Morse said to Lincoln, who was tied to a nearby chair.

"No" He said. "I'm not going through with this."

"You don't have a choice at this point. Don't you want your wife back."

"Not like this."

"Too bad." She said, touching his chest. The mind stone on her tiara glowed. Lincoln did as he was told and fired off his electrical powers at the machine. The extra juice sent it over the engine and it began to work. The temporal delineator lit up and the array began to glow. "It's working" Morse cried.

Within a few moments, a portal formed before them. The room where her Melinda met her end.

"Simple task here, Ms. Wells" Morse told the pinned Jessie "You zip through the portal, switch out my Millie for this one and you're free to leave."

Morse watched as two SHIELD grunts dragged May into the room. She was about to send Jessie and the other May through when… a hidden door in the wall opened.

"Good work Agent May" the tall, bald man said

"Director Fury…" May said, standing "You couldn't have them go even a little easy on me?"

"Sorry, it had to be believable." Fury said, "Is Morse aware of anything?"

"That fucking idiot wouldn't notice if she was on fire if I didn't tell her…" May said with a smirk. "So, what do we do now?"

"We're going to move you to one of the lunar colonies until we've got Hydra wrapped up." Fury said, handing her a folder. "Everything on your new temporary identity. You'll be working security for Doctor Richards and his team."

"When do I leave?"

"Right now."

Two more SHIELD agents came in, carrying a dead body.

"Found her in a morgue in Toledo, OD'ed on prescription painkillers. Didn't take much to make her look exactly like you."

"My compliments to the surgeon."

Fury drew his pistol and shot the body in the head a few times. May faked a scream, to which Fury gave a thumbs up and lead her out through the passage.

Morse was crushed. The woman she loved. The woman she worked so hard to get back, was a double agent. A spy for SHIELD. She never loved her. She used her to destroy Hydra.

Then she had a second realization.

"Mysiri knew… She played me…" Morse muttered.

"Mistress?" The May in the room asked, "Are you alright?"

"STOP CALLING ME THAT!" Morse screamed.

"MAY!" Scott yelled from the rear of the room, having seen everything.

"Hello again Agent Riley. Are you here to help my Mistress?"

"SHUT UP!" Morse cried.

Barry ran over to untie Lincoln.

"Listen…" Scott said to the sobbing woman "Let the others go. Let them leave. You do that, and then tell me where my team is and what you know about Mysiri; and I won't take you in."

"You're S.H.I.E.L.D., You're a bunch of lying worthless shit bags!"

"Oh and you're just God damn a saint…" He snapped back at her, "I met Number 547…"

"I wanted to give her the freedom her world never did."

"Sure, unless you're like me and don't know how trading life in an institution for life as your servant is freedom… And now she's dead."

"And it's your fault."

"My fault? MY FAULT?"

"You came here, you beat her, she played by the rules of the game and now she's gone. If you'd left us alone, none of this would have happened."

"YOU don't get to pin this nonsense on me. I looked through your files. I found everything about you Ms. Morse. Daughter of two well to do socialites who were always out at parties and events, never giving you so much as the time of day. You lashed out to try to get their attention, but at the same time reveled in freedom them not being around gave you. You could do what you wanted, and your household staff couldn't punish you. You have no concept of the consequences of your actions. YOU are nothing more than a spoiled child.

"That's not true!" She screamed. "That's not…"

"People are dead because of your little games. And right about now, I want nothing less than to put a bullet through that brain of yours for what you and your dear friend Mysiri have put me through."

"Then just do it!" She cried.

"No." He said "No. You have information I want. Tell me everything you know and I will find you a place to go."

"You're negotiating with a 'terrorist?"

"This isn't negotiating, this is plea bargaining. You're as guilty as all fucking sin and I've got you dead to rights. I could easily kill you, but I'm not going to. I know I'm dealing with someone who lost something and who's about to lose so much more if she doesn't help me. Let me put it this way, swapping out your dresses for orange prison jumpsuits for the rest of your life is the BEST case scenario if you don't give me what I want. In ten minutes, S.H.E.I.L.D. will have Lakeside City evacuated and then they are going to drop an air force's worth of Disney Bombs and Bunker Busters on this place unless I wave them off. So, unless you want to hang around for the WWII re-enactment, I suggest you start talking!"


	34. Fourth Stop: Today's problems

Chapter 69

"Okay…" Morse said, whipping the tears from her eyes. She stood and tapped the hydra symbol on her belt. "Justification units, deactivate." She said.

A glow appeared within Sara and Ava's helmets. Ava stumbled, releasing Jessie, and Sara slowly sat up. The two pulled their helmets off and looked around in a daze. "Thanks." Sara said to Scott before getting back on her feet and running straight for Morse.

"Whoa!" Scott said, standing between the sobbing Morse and the pissed to all hell Sara Lance.

"Give me one good reason I shouldn't?" Sara asked

"She's not lived up to her end of my bargain." Scott told her "Then you can beat the crap out of her to your hearts content"

"Where's my friends? Where did Mysiri take them? What's her endgame?"

"Mysiri wants this strange stuff in the ground." Morse said "Your Earth has way more of if than any other's she's found. She told me your friends knew all about it. She took them back to the Earth May here came from."

"Stuff? What kind of stuff."

"It looks like Mercury but isn't."

Scott put his hands to his head.

"Looks? Like… Oh no... Not again…"

Morse stepped towards Lincoln and put her hand on his chest. She then did the same to May.

"I release you."

May staggered for a moment before hauling back and punching Morse in the face, knocking her out.

"Thanks kid." She said to Scott

"I'm 30, thank you very much..."

"What's going on?" She asked, ignoring him

"You want the long version, the short version or the 'Abridged so I can tell in the less than fifteen minutes we have to live' version."

"Lay off with the sarcasm."

"I was being serious; a shit ton has happened over the past few days, but the simplest version is 'we need to get out of here or we're gonna die'. Agent Seven is evil again, Daisy, Jemma, Jas and Fitz have been kidnapped, we've made a ton of new traveling companions, who BTdubs, are currently locked outside in the hall and my plane has been stolen."

Ave got the door unlocked and the rest of the Flash's friends entered the room. Nate turned metal and yanked the delineator from its stand.

Scott heard a hiss in his ear followed by Director Fury calling his name.

"Sir, It's good to hear from you."

"Good work kid, interference is gone."

"Why does everyone keep calling me that?" Scott said out loud to no one in particular before answering "Yes Sir, threat is neutralized. Morse is in custody. Core is currently stable; we are clear for extraction. Air support is not required."

The signal was quiet.

"Sir? Do you copy?"

"I'm sorry Scott" Fury said with a bit of regret in his voice

"Rodger that, will say again."

"No… Scott, I heard you. But I can't order the planes to turn around. It's out of my hands."

"What?"

"Orders from on high are to destroy the Lighthouse. The planes will be there within five minutes. I really wish it didn't have to be this way. I appreciate your help. Goodbye Scott."

'Yeah, well, Fuck You." Scott said before shutting off his ear comm.

"OK people listen up. We've got five minutes to live. Anyone have any bright ideas, now would be the time."

"My portal machine…" Morse said, regaining consciousness.

"Kinda busted." Scott said

"No…" She said as she tried to stand.

"The one in the other room." Sara suddenly remember "How you got to our Earth in the first place."

"It should still work. Mysiri gave it to me. After I gave the small one to the Drakes"

"OK then. Anyone with Speed still, get as many of the folks still alive down here to the portal ASAP."

Sara led Scott into the adjacent chamber, where a large strange machine sat. Its composition matched the strange battery and lamp from the Capitol building several days prior. The controls lit up when Sara stepped up to them.

"This thing should still work."

"Great, because there are a lot of people coming." Thawne said, entering the room. Behind him were the Drakes, being led in at gunpoint by Ava and Iris.

Within a few minutes, the survivors of the last bastion of Hydra had been rounded up, just as Jay and Jessie's disks gave out.

"Let's get out of here." Scott said to Sara, who switched the machine on. Its front end began to spin, almost as if it were drilling a hole in spacetime. Soon, an opening appeared, and they were greeted with the sight of CCPD headquarters.

"We're going to work on getting you back to your own worlds soon as possible, but for right now, we need you to go through this portal. It's out only escape route." May said before stepping through.

The throngs of people began to cross as the lighthouse began to shake. The portal began to slowly get smaller.

"They've started bombing." Barry said "Everyone, run! Now!"

"Power's starting to give out." Sara reported.

"Must feel nice being backstabbed." Morse said with a smile on her face.

"Be glad we're not leaving you here." Scott said as Iris grabbed the woman and dragged her through the portal.

Last ones left were Barry and Scott.

"Barry, it's been a pleasure." Scott said shaking the other man's hands. "But you guys need to go."

"What about you?" Iris asked from the other side as it began to close.

"I've got a theory." Scott said

"Which is?" Barry asked as he stepped through.

"… that someone doesn't want me to die … See you around" He said, doing a small salute as the portal sealed itself.


	35. Last Stop: Tomorrow's Solutions

Chapter 70

Scott started running down the corridor

"Wish I could trade telekinesis for super speed right about now." He said to himself.

Suddenly, Scott was enveloped in a blue glow.

"Right on cue…"

Within seconds, he found himself somewhere else, and wherever Scott was, the place was pitch dark.

"Hello?" Scott called out. He continued running… right into a wall, knocking him down.

"Well..." He said getting back on his feet "This is just what I needed… Maybe I could blast a hole in it."

He pulled out his gun and fired. The bullet bounded around the room a few times before Scott was able to stop it.

He heard a sound behind him, a section of the wall dissolving in a near perfect half circle. Through the opening a figure passed. A man in what looked to be a clear Plexiglas lounge chair that just floated along in mid-air, coming close, Scott realized he was both very old looking and very familiar looking.

"Hello there, Agent Riley." The man said as he came to a stop in front of Scott. "My name is Howard Stark; and I've had my eye on you for some time"

"You're the Howard Stark who built those machines?" Scott asked.

"Yes." The man in the floating chair said. "My Trans dimensional Teleportation and Communication Units. I think you call them 'Stark Devices? Catchy if I do say so myself."

Scott nodded

"I originally was searching for my world's Steve Rogers, the Super-American." He continued "I was under the impression he'd come in contact with the Tesseract and it sent him to another dimension. I didn't realize he was stuck in the arctic like on several other earths such as yours. Quite embarrassing, actually."

"So…?" Scott asked, making the "pick put the pace" motion with his hands at the same time.

"One thing I like about you, kid, you're the 'get to the point' type." Stark said. "I'm 107 years old. In those years, I've made a lot of mistakes. Over 5000 of them to be precise…

"There's FIVE THOUSAND of those damn things!?" Scott said.

"And it feels like every day someone finds one and uses it to cause trouble. Like what you've been dealing with the past few days. I need someone's help to stop this, to find them and ether contain them or destroy them if necessary. And I would like that someone to be you, Agent Riley."

"Why? What's so special about me?"

"I think you already know." The old man smirked.

"I can't just run off and be some interdimensional repo agent. I've got my own problems right now."

"Yes. Your friends, more specificity your new girlfriend Daisy…" Stark said. He tapped on his chair and a holographic screen appeared in front of them. "I'm sorry to say there's not much you can do right now for her."

The image showed Daisy, strapped into a machine not that much different from the memory machine SHIELD confiscated from Centipede. The local counterpart of her mother, or what was left of her, was standing off to one side. She held out her hand and the particulate parasites few out and entered her daughter.

"I'm afraid she's too far gone, son." Stark told him.

"No." Scott said shaking his head as he watched the image of Daisy standing up and waiting for her orders. "No. You don't know her like I do. She's a fighter. She's strong."

"I know enough about the Hive entity that she shouldn't be under its control. I've had a few get their paws on my TTCUs. Fortunately, it's so far been unable to survive interdimensional travel."

"Before we go any further, I think I'm owed a SERIOUS explanation of the past few days. You tell me the truth, then you help me get them back… get her back… and I'll be your little errand boy."

"Well, I was going to tell you anyway. Follow me…."

To be continued in

**Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Operation Exiles**

**Vol. 4 "****_Children of The Stars_****"**


End file.
